Beyond the Reflection
by ClassicLit
Summary: When Reno takes on the investigation of a case in Wutai, he gets more than he bargained for. Mainly: one obnoxious, spoiled, sarcastic, and infuriating brat. Among other things of course.
1. It Starts

**Beyond the Reflection**

_Disclaimer: I do not own FFVII. _

_Summary: When Reno takes on the investigation of a case in Wutai, he gets more than he bargained for. Mainly: one obnoxious, spoiled, sarcastic, and infuriating brat. (Among other things of course.) _

**It Starts**

**By:ClassicLit**

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&Wutai

It was already six in the evening and the rain still hasn't stopped. The grayish sky turned platinum about three hours ago as the sun's last, weak rays were hidden from view. The rain drops made a soft, almost inaudible pitter-patter on the concrete. Perhaps the sound was almost inaudible; to her it was quite loud. She was currently sitting in the Temple of Leviathan, the outside section of it, listening to her father babble on about one thing or other. She really was not paying attention; she was concentrating too hard on trying to fall asleep. The only deterrence from that plan was the annoying sound of rain drops, and the cold wind that picked up no more than ten minutes ago. Yuffie loved these kind days. When the rain fell in thick sheets, and the platinum sky had an ethereal glow. The only reason this particular day was more of a torture than bliss was because of the speech that Godo decided to give to the masters of the Pagoda. This of course under normal circumstances would not concern Yuffie, but her father was extra excited that his daughter is seventeen and could participate in this gathering. Thus, he dragged his very much protesting daughter to the Temple.

He was drowning on about how it is the responsibility of the Wutaian people to worship the gods who are kind enough to protect the nation. Yuffie almost snorted at that. Protect the nation? Since when was this happening? Did she miss something? Last time she checked, the said nation had a huge war with the ShinRa and didn't come out victorious. Thank Leviathan Reeve was the new president and Wutai was being 'modified' without any outside interference, except for help that is. Her mind drifted slowly away from her thoughts and to the 'lecture'.

"And it is of concern…" that is as far she got before her head fell limply onto her chest. She could have sworn that instance that she had ADHD. It became a reoccurring theme. When her father started up on something serious, she would space. Her train of thought stopped abruptly though when she saw a shadow, out of the corner of her eye; move quickly and quietly towards the Pagoda. She froze looking as the figure entered the building. The platinum sky did not allow for her to see the person at such a distance, seeing as it was darker than was expected at six in the evening. Yet, what she did see did not please her one bit. The figure was tall, and she could tell that it was male. He was carrying something that was by the looks of it both large and heavy. By the height alone she could tell he was Wutaian, and if he was not Wutaian he would not, by the rules, be able to enter the Pagoda. She frowned thinking quickly. Who was guarding the Pagoda? The guards, but they were not a tall a threat to the man, if he was as intimidating as he looked, even from this distance.

She looked at Godo, and to her relief found that he was too concentrated on listening to himself and would not notice if she slipped away. The small platform that she was sitting on was right on the edge and she easily slipped through the bottom crack of the railing. Staniv, one of the masters of the Pagoda, noticed her actions though, as he was sitting right beside her. Yuffie looked up from her crouching position under the outside platform and gave Staniv the most imploring look she could possibly muster, complete with a pout and puppy eyes. Against his better judgment Staniv nodded once as a small smile spread on his face. Ever since she was a kid he could never say no to that face. Yuffie smiled and whispered a quick thanks, which only Staniv heard.

Yuffie broke into a sprint, keeping her footsteps as quite as possible. When she got to the Pagoda she silently checked her shurikens and took in a deep breath before proceeding. As she guessed earlier the two guards, who were guarding the Pagoda, were unconscious. One of them was lying face down at the bottom of the stairs, and the other was on his back opposite the stairs. As far as Yuffie could tell they were not dead, just knocked out. She did not concern herself with them for too long as a noise was heard upstairs. It was not at all loud, but Yuffie's tense nerves made her extra sensitive. She gulped and sprinted up the stairs as fast as she could until she got to the third floor. She stopped at the entrance and saw…

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&Midgar

"Reno, get your ass up!" Elena's voice drifted to Reno's ears. "There is no way I am coming up with any excuses as to why your sorry ass is late for work this morning." There was a loud beep as Elena hung up the phone and the message recorder fell silent. It took Reno the better part of ten minutes to actually register what was going on around him. When it clicked though, Reno jumped out of bed and…fell on the floor in a heap of black sheets. Reno untangled himself from the mess with more trouble than he originally thought and made his way slowly to the bathroom. He dragged his feet and in the process tripped on one of the many articles of clothing that were scattered on the floor. He cursed under his breath as he finally reached the accursed bathroom.

After somehow managing to take a shower and dress without killing himself, Reno finally made his way to his car. He grinned when he saw his 'Old Glory'. Please don't ask…yes he named his car, who doesn't? (Disregard that question.) In fact, as Elena predicted, he was running late. Seeing no other option Reno's 'Old Glory' sped through the streets at break-neck speed.

He arrived at the ShinRa building two minutes before his due time at work. Usually he would not put in the effort to get to work on time, but this day was when Reeve would give the Turks a new mission. Reno was getting bored and traveling somewhere seemed like a good idea…at the time.

So Reno made his way to the office with a bounce in his step that was very much unnatural for him this early in the morning. He arrived at the destination thirty seconds before he had to. Elena gave him the most shocked look, while a ghost of a smile graced Rude's lips as he saw his partner drag himself into Reeve's office and fall into a comfortable armchair right next to his own chair. Reeve walked in thirty seconds later punctual as usual.

"Good morning" he said jovially while glancing around at the Turks. When his eyes fell on Reno he did a double take "Why Reno! I was no expecting you here so…on time." He finished lamely while looking at Elena and Rude for answers. They both shrugged while Reno rubbed his temples irritably. If they thought he didn't notice the wordless exchange, they were deeply mistaken.

"You see Reeve" he began sweetly with a smirk on his face "one of your most diligent workers" he shot a dirty look at Elena, who was trying her best to look as innocent as possible "decided to get my 'ass up' because she would not make any excuses as to why I'm late. Now, I am going to say once and for all…" He paused for dramatic effect, which didn't work because Reeve and Elena burst out laughing. Reno all but growled "Go ahead then, steal my thunder." He announced pompously, while puffing out his chest "I should warn you though…" Again he was cut off by Reeve's and Elena's laughter. He was about to comment on how they were laughing for no good reason but saw exactly what they were laughing at. As the reader might have already guesses, they were in fact laughing at Reno.

Reno's feet, which were on the floor, were turned each to the opposite direction giving a very good imitation of a ballerina. He was slouched but still trying to puff out his chest. In his effort his back caved and he looked like a woman trying to show off her chest. Overall he gave an impression of a duck who was about to enter the water and found the temperature too cold. He sighed and leaned back into the armchair. It was way too early for this he decided as he closed his eyes. Reeve was the first to recover and began speaking even to the chorus of Elena's giggles.

"Alright, let's get back to the main objective." To this Reno raised an eyebrow.

"There is a main objective?" He asked curiously with big, innocent eyes (that were completely fake). Reeve shook his head with a small smile, but decided to ignore the comment.

"I got a call two days ago from Lord Godo and he had less than good news." The three Turks looked at each other in confusion. "It seems that someone broke into the Pagoda and dropped off a body of a young man…who is Godo's nephew. On his body were engraved two words 'IT STARTS'." The room fell eerily silent. The only sound that was heard was Reeve opening the folder and distributing the files with information as well as photographs. "The princess was the first to see this…" He was rudely interrupted by Reno.

"You mean the brat?" he said, and tried to give Reeve an innocent look while the other growled. There was really no use in trying to dissuade Reno from the nickname so Reeve decided to ignore the red-head and continue on with the story.

"As I was saying…" he said slowly while giving Reno a pointed glare. "an investigation needs to be run. Since Wutai is still rebuilding and the police force is not as strong as is preferable I offered Lord Godo my help." He looked around at the Turks and smiled ruefully "So who would like to go?" he asked nonchalantly as if he was asking one of them to get lunch. He was greeted with silence.

Elena was as white as a sheet with wide eyes. After seeing her reaction at the pictures Reeve knew that the real thing would be worse. Rude was quite, as always, and seemed to be turning his options over in his mind. He couldn't go though, Reeve knew. There were too many details that needed taking care of from the last case. Rude had enough work without worrying about a murder in Wutai. This left Reno. When Reeve even thought about breaking the new to the red-headed Turk he winced as he knew colorful language would follow his proposal. He looked at the young man and almost did a second double take for the day. There was Reno actually studying the file. To Reeve's relief he red-head was not just studying the file, but doing so with an amount of interest. Unknown to Reeve of course, Reno was so interested because this was his ticket to getting out of Midgar. There was no difference in the murder. Reno would have gotten a dozen cases like this one within the next couple of weeks, but there was a difference between solving this case in Midgar or in Wutai. The other thing that kept Reno reading the file was some instinct that told him that this was going to be much more interesting than it promises to be.

"So…" Reeve said hesitantly. Thankfully though he was interrupted by a drawl that suited only one person in the room.

"Got you covered shweetheart." Reeve couldn't hold back the sigh of relief as it escaped his lips. He shot Reno a thankful smile and clapped his hands together.

"Alright, then it's settled." Upon hearing those words Elena raced out of the room with a hand covering her mouth. It was painfully obvious where she was going. Reeve laughed whole-heartedly feeling the responsibility, of making Reno do something that the young man didn't want to do, lift from him.

Rude and Reno wordlessly went out of Reeve's office and Reno stretched his hands while putting them behind his head. Reno's smile grew as he saw his partner take off his sunglasses and give Reno a thorough check over.

"You don't have a fever?" was the curt question that made Reno burst out laughing. Rude smiled a bit and put his sunglasses over his eyes again.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&Wutai

Yuffie was reading a book in the library when her father walked in through the large double doors. He smiled lightly at his daughter. She finished the book she and closed it.

"And they lived happily ever after." She said a bit sarcastically. "This is so cliché" she continued "how often if ever do you see that happening."

"Maybe that'll happen to you some day." Godo said while smiling while Yuffie winced at the implication and made a disgusted face. "Yet, I have not come here to discuss this particular matter." As he saw relief wash over Yuffie's face he smirked a bit "You are spared…for now." When Yuffie opened her mouth to say something that he could only assume was another one of those sarcastic comments he seemed to be getting often from his daughter he raised his hand. "I do have a meeting to hurry to. I only came to say that there will be a man from ShinRa sent here for the investigation." A look of pain crossed his face and he turned away from his daughter's questioning gaze, but on second thought smiled and turned back "It would be nice of you NOT to bother the poor guy." With that he closed the door and heard something that seemed particularly heavy hit the door at the spot that he stood at not more than two seconds ago. He continued walking and grinned at his daughter's childish behavior.

_I truly hope you liked this chapter. Please tell me what you think! Interesting, bad, good, boring…you get the point. Thank you so much for reading. _


	2. Red Lights and Difficulties

**Beyond the Reflection**

_Disclaimer: I do not own FFVII. _

_Summary: When Reno takes on the investigation of a case in Wutai, he gets more than he bargained for. Mainly: one obnoxious, spoiled, sarcastic, and infuriating brat. (Among other things of course.) _

**Red Lights and Difficulties **

**By:ClassicLit**

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&Wutaian Continent

Reno was trigger happy this morning. To make this statement more accurate, it meant that if he would have to stop at another red light he would blow someone's head off. Reeve was a brilliant president and rebuilding these cities was not easy, but damn! Why did there have to be a traffic light on every single intersection? Even the most insignificant ones had traffic lights monitoring them. This was just perfect, with Reno's luck every time his rented car came to an intersection (which was situated every twenty feet it seemed) the light would glow red.

Overall the whole manner in which he would be getting himself to Wutai was enough to make him want to strangle Reeve. Elena and Rude flew him all the way to the continent on which Wutai was situated, and then left him with a rented car and a small town that grew in the past half a year. So here he was driving through that exact small town and had to stop at another red light.

"Shit!" he cursed and hit the steering wheel with his hands "Unbe-fuckin-lievable!"

Of course the one hundred some red lights that he had to stop on was not his only source of irritation. The implications of what the mission was going to bring him finally caught up. First of, he was not your average hero who had a knack for saving damsels in distress…or in this case nations in distress. He much rather do surveillance or something of the sort. Second of, the fact that the brat will be in Wutai was enough for him to blanch. He can't even avoid her! She would have to be questioned and well…he would have to do it without shooting her.

His car came to a halt at another blasted red light. '_I really shouldn't concentrate on the negative aspects of this so much.'_ Reno thought wryly.

"Are there any positives though?" he said out loud "Oh yeah, right. I get to go somewhere other than Midgar." He answered his own question while stretching his limbs. This drew a strange look from the driver who stopped at the same red light on the lane beside Reno's. Reno almost growled, but resisted the urge seeing as the temptation of toying with the man was irresistible. Reno turned to the back seat, as if talking to someone and continued.

"Anyway son," he said with a smirk when he saw the man lean over at the mention of 'son' to listen in on the conversation. "Since you know how to use a gun now" Reno's smirk grew into a grin as he saw the man pale considerably "I need to teach you who to shoot. First and foremost, if a person hears you discussing something that could potentially lead to murder and make you a suspect, shoot the guy who heard you." Reno turned to the man in the other car with an evil smirk, but luckily for the poor guy the light finally turned green and he raced forward only to be stopped by another red light twenty feet up front. Reno grinned and slowly, almost lazily, made his way towards the other car. Perhaps this little car ride was not a complete waste of time after all.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&Wutai

'_It starts, it starts, it starts, it starts' _Yuffie chanted in her head. What starts? Why her cousin in particular? Questions raced through her head until a very random one, yet also a significant one popped up. Who would be investigating this case? Needless to say, her relationship with people from ShinRa, except for Reeve, was a bit shaky. Even though Reeve was the president she was not exactly happy about her father asking for help. She would think that it could be done within. While on some things she had the more liberal outlook, on others she just wouldn't cave from her conservative bias. But that was the decision and she really couldn't do anything about it except hope that Elena would turn up. This was highly unlikely though because if Yuffie had to retch upon seeing the…body she could almost bet Elena would too.

Elena really didn't know her cousin very well. Actually she didn't know him at all. When she saw Yuske (A/N: I just made up a name…please don't shoot me) on the floor of the Pagoda she didn't even recognize him. Last time she saw him she was ten, and even then she didn't spend much time with him. Her limited acquaintance with him did not stop the feeling of dread that was slowly settling in her stomach. Why him?

She was again chanting the cryptic message in her head in the library when she heard a distinct sound of a car stopping outside the Pagoda. Now this was new she thought wryly. This was followed by curse after curse that Yuffie was sure Cid could learn from. She grinned a little at the thought of the pilot and headed outside. No need to keep the poor guy who's outside waiting. She would later regret ever berating herself for inconveniencing the 'poor guy'.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&Outside the Pagoda

Reno came to a sharp stop outside the Pagoda. His rented car experiencing the same amount of relief that they finally made it. He drew some worried glances from the people who were praying at the Temple of Leviathan, but they turned away with a look of comprehension when they recognize his navy blue suite for what it was. He brushed some dust, which picked up after his less than gentle stop, from his suite jacket. When he turned to head for the Pagoda he was topped by a very shocked and a bit annoyed Yuffie, whose face mirrored how he felt perfectly. Well, might as well make the best of the situation.

"Not happy to see me brat?" he said with a smirk while casually leaning on his car and crossing him arms over his chest.

"Turkey?" she said while raising an eyebrow. At the nickname his amusement slowly faded into irritation. He hated that nickname. Upon seeing that, Yuffie gave a smirk of her own "Please don't tell me Reeve sent you."

"Of course he didn't." Reno said sarcastically while rolling his eyes "I just came here of my own free will to spend time with you, princess." They traded expression again. Yuffie growing agitated and Reno becoming amused.

"Godo said that it's my responsibility to show you the…place" she paused and Reno raised an eyebrow. Yuffie wouldn't be deterred though "so move and let's get it over with." Yuffie said while briskly walking back into the Pagoda. Reno stayed rooted to the spot however with an innocent expression. After a few seconds in which Yuffie realized he was not following her Yuffie turned back and poked her head out of the door.

"Turkey, you deaf or something? I did say…" she was cut short however.

"I heard what you said. It's what you didn't say." He said trying to sound mysterious and failing at it. He rolled his eyes at himself and said sweetly "You forgot to say please." To this Yuffie all but growled and started to walk back into the building ignoring the amused Turk who was following close behind.

When they finally got to the third floor Yuffie noticed that it wasn't as close to the ground as she thought. The time when she raced after he guy her legs were powered by the adrenalin, but now the climb took forever. The groan that she heard escape the Turk's lips proved that he was inclined to agree. They finally made it though and she made a move to start explaining what happened when she was stopped by a very soft sound that was coming from the floor above. She turned to Reno and saw that he too had noticed.

They both gave each other a worried look. Wordlessly Reno took out his gun and made slow deliberate steps towards the stairs. Yuffie followed close behind. They heard the soft sound turn into sure footsteps that were moving with deliberation towards the left. Reno suddenly bolted up and Yuffie's reflexes took her in the same direction. When they made it to the fourth floor they saw a dark figure, which Yuffie recognized as the same guy from three days ago, leap out the window. The first though that occurred to Yuffie was that the guy would probably brake his legs. The fall was not small and there was nothing but concrete below. You can imagine her surprise, as well as Reno's, when they saw the figure land smoothly on the ground below and bolt to the forest.

"Shit" she heard Reno whisper "how the hell did he do that?" that was the exact question that was eating at her. "Stay here" she heard Reno say as he moved away from the window.

"There is no way in hell Turk." She answered while trying to be as difficult as she possibly could. She deliberately brushed past him and started running down the stairs.

It didn't take long before Reno caught up with her. He almost growled. If anything happens to the brat Reeve will have his ass. There was really no stopping this though, she was being difficult and if they had any chance of getting to the guy before he disappeared completely they better not stop. They ran past the Pagoda and into the forest. All the while Reno was very much surprised that she kept up with him the whole way. When they entered the forest they finally came to their senses and saw that there really wouldn't be any way to find this guy. He wore all black and his speed wasn't something to reckon with.

"I think we lost him." He heard Yuffie sigh beside him.

"That was probably the most brilliant observation." Reno said sarcastically. It was only the beginning of his stay in Wutai and he was already getting a headache. She ignored his comment completely though.

"What do we do now?" she asked while still looking around in hope that the guy didn't run, but rather stayed in place. Needless to say her search for the figure in the immediate area came up with less than favorable results. Reno on the other hand did a double take.

"We? Brat, you are staying here and that is final. I am not dragging you all over Wutai so you can grate on my nerves." With that he turned and started walking but then…

"Fine I'll do it myself!" Yuffie said defiantly and headed deeper into the forest. Why? Why did this always happen to him? No matter the situation it always turned against him. There was no denying it though, if he let her wonder alone and she got herself killed the fault would be pinned on him. He sighed and turned around. There was no way he would win this argument he knew. That moment he noticed a trail of broken grass leading to the opposite direction of where Yuffie was going. He smirked and looked up

"Oi brat!" he called out to her. She topped and turned around to face him. He pointed to the trail and his grin only grew when a blush rose to her cheeks. She wisely decided to stay quite and walked in the direction of where Reno was pointing.

_Thank you so much for reading. This is still a bit boring I know, but I think it will get better. Once Yuffie and Reno get lost in the forest that is. _


	3. More Water Less Oxygen

_Marinanthe: Thank you so much for your review. I am so glad that you enjoy this story. I won't think about discontinuing this story. I had this idea for a while and I'm happy you like it. About the fluff…to tell you the truth I am not a very romantic type author, but…I'll think about it There certainly will be embarrassing moments, and I think there will be fluff, just later. _

_Evaeriefele__: Thank you for your review. I just have a performance at Carnegie Hall this weekend and I am really busy right now. I am trying to update every weekend though. Just two more chapters will be about this length and then I'll have more time on my hands and I'll make the chapters longer. So please do bear with me, because if I would have made this chapter longer you would probably not see it till like the next month. _

_Vivi: Thanks for the review. I will certainly make my chapters longer once I finish my Carnegie Hall performance. I am just extremely busy right now, but I won't be once the concert is done. Or at least I won't be as busy. _

_Thank you so much for reading my story and reviewing if you did that! I will certainly make chapters for this longer soon enough. I just have a performance in Carnegie Hall and I have rehearsals almost all the time. Once this is done I PROMISE the chapters will be longer!_

**Beyond the Reflection**

_Disclaimer: I do not own FFVII. _

_Summary: When Reno takes on the investigation of a case in Wutai, he gets more than he bargained for. Mainly: one obnoxious, spoiled, sarcastic, and infuriating brat. (Among other things of course.) _

**More Water Less Oxygen**

**By:ClassicLit**

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&Somewhere in the Forest

"We're lost aren't we?" Reno's question sounded more like a statement than anything else. Yuffie flinched. She assured the Turk that she knew the forest like the back of her hand, but she overestimated her knowledge and right now they were undeniably lost. Heck if she was going to admit it to him though.

"For your information, I know exactly where we're going." Yuffie said while huffing and speeding up. Reno just had to snort at that. He almost felt sorry about having to break to Yuffie the news about them walking in circles for the past half hour. Almost being the operative word.

"Oi brat, if you are sooo not lost, then please do answer me why we've passed that exact spot" he pointed to a tree that was particularly memorable considering that it was the largest one in the forest "more than three times." She froze in place and gave the tree a very dirty look. Reno could almost see her eating away at her lip. He shook his head and smirked at Yuffie's back. She was easier to get to than Elena was, and that in itself was a feat to accomplish.

Yuffie turned around and started glaring at Reno. Even as he kept his expression that of dry amusement he couldn't help but think about the man that got away. Even though Reno didn't get a good look at the figure that escaped the silhouette somehow looked oh so familiar. It wasn't the man himself as much as the way he was dressed. Reno shook his head and concentrated on the glaring Yuffie.

"Well then smartass" she said while folding her arms over her chest "if you know where we are please by all means inform me." Reno smirked and folded his own arms over his chest.

"Don't you dare get me into this." He said defensively "I never said that I knew my way through the forest…unlike someone else I know." When she huffed out a breath and glared harder at him, Reno's smirk widened to a grin.

"You're enjoying his aren't you?" she said more than asked.

"Not half as much as you are." He shot back while unfolding his own arms. Yuffie opened her mouth, but whatever she was about to say was lost as both heard a roar of thunder and lightning cut through the cloudy sky. Before either could react their bemused expressions were met with a downpour of rain. That in itself though was only a setback compared to what they saw rise in front of them…

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&Outside of Wutai

"Did you?" came a cold, sardonic voice from the man in the wheelchair. The only answer he received was a curt nod. There was a flash of white teeth within the depth of the black shadows. "Good." The man in the wheelchair whispered. He waved off the large figure in front of him and closely examined the small object held tightly within his grasp.

The object twinkled when a speck of light fell on its surface. A very cold laugh ran through the dark room. "Yes, this is it."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&Somewhere in the forest

Hearing faint splashing coming from his right, Reno turned his head slightly. What he saw was certainly not what he expected, nor in fact had a particular desire in seeing. The small stream that Reno and Yuffie stopped in front of was in fact inhabited as Reno, unfortunately, found out. A rather large…no, that would be an understatement, a huge snake like creature was crawling out of the stream and slowly but deliberately was making its way towards the two arguing people. Yuffie, who had recovered from the thunder, but had yet to notice the snake, was saying something that sounded a lot like insults, but Reno didn't waste his energy on listening since he had the misfortune of actually seeing the thing in front of them.

"Uh..brat?" Reno began uncertainly while following the snake like creature with his eyes. Now, under further scrutiny, the thing looked like a Leviathan summon. If this was true, and Reno could almost bet it was, they were in real trouble. Yuffie didn't seem deterred though, Reno noticed, she kept mumbling something that sounded oh-so-much like asshole over and over under her breath while glaring daggers at him. It was obvious that she had not noticed Leviathan making its way towards her.

"Don't 'brat' me you jerk." She screeched reaching the levels of ultra violet. "Unlike you…" '_Finally,' _Reno observed _'she noticed the damn thing.'_ Yuffie froze. Reno couldn't possibly pass up this opportunity though, so now he forgot about the imminent threat.

"You're not that great for a ninja, brat." He said smirking "Aren't you suppose to…feel this stuff, or some other absurd thing like that?" Even though he tried desperately to not pay attention to the fact that the Leviathan summon was about six feet from them, the less than clam expression on Yuffie's face really didn't let him forget the fact completely.

"What do we do?" she whispered while keeping her hand poised over the shuriken, which was strapped to her belt. Reno let out a sigh, keeping his gaze trained on the opponent. What should they do? How these adventures always came to haunt his ass was something Reno never understood. They were screwed; he really couldn't put it any nicer. This was the exact time the summon chose to attack. The creature lounged forward at Yuffie, but she managed to get just far enough. What the creature was trying to do was beyond Reno. The thing didn't have any claws, or any particularly sharp teeth. What would be the point of lounging at Yuffie? Then it clicked. Wasn't someone controlling this? Yes, obviously someone was. So that meant that this person didn't want to kill them, just to scare them away. This made Reno curious. What was there beyond the stream deeper into the forest? He took out his electric mag-rod and prepared to fight, but before he could even take his stance he saw a figure dressed in all black (the same figure they were chasing earlier) sprint into the forest.

He really didn't have time to explore the subject further as a cold wave of water covered him. It was hard enough concentrating on trying to get to oxygen, without having to think about the implications of the attack. He didn't quite make it to the surface though as the something very sharp embedded itself in his side. Alright, perhaps the creature didn't have sharp claws and teeth, but the spikes on its tail certainly made up for the fact. Reno learned that the hard way as he saw his crimson blood spread through the blue hue of the water surrounding him. Pain shot through his body, but his clouded mind still registered that he had a fire material in his weapon. He concentrated hard on trying to cast the spell even though he had quite the sufficient amount of problems that kept demanding attention (such as the lack of oxygen and loss of blood). He managed to do it though and a warm flame shot through the water. This of course was not necessary anymore as with the black figure the summon disappeared as well.

As the water dissipated, Reno fell on the ground coughing and trying to gulp as much oxygen into his lungs as he possibly could. His hand instinctively went straight to his side and he felt the warm temperature of blood which was contrasting with the freezing temperature the rest of his wet clothes were. He turned over onto his back and allowed himself the luxury of relaxation when he remembered one little thing. Yuffie. Where was she?

He scrambled to his feet and looked around. This was probably the fifth time today that he seriously considered Reeve killing him. If something happened to the brat…

"Hey, kid" he called when he noticed her form lying not seven feet from him. He approached her, and a very unsettling feeling came over him when she didn't answer. "Oh Princess" he called in a sing-song voice "breakfast is ready, you might wanna…" at this he stopped and crouched next to her. She didn't look so good. She was deathly white, and she didn't seem to be breathing. Reno turned her onto her back and checked her pulse. It seemed to be there, but it was so weak. He leaned over her and checked her breathing. Remember when his diagnosis was that she didn't SEEM to be breathing? Well, she wasn't.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&Wutai

"Hello, Reeve?" Godo said into the phone while pacing up and down his chambers with Staniv sitting in an armchair and watching Godo's every move.

"Yes" Reeve answered a bit disgruntled on the other end of the line. It was after all two in the morning.

"I have a problem…" Godo answered worriedly.


	4. Of Blonde Secretaries and CPR

_Window to the Soul__: Thank you soo much for reviewing! I'm glad that you think the characters are in…character. I was really worried about them being really OOC. Thanks._

_Somepersonxp: Thank you so much for reading and reviewing. Here is the CPR scene you've been waiting for! _

**Beyond the Reflection**

_Disclaimer: I do not own FFVII. _

_Summary: When Reno takes on the investigation of a case in Wutai, he gets more than he bargained for. Mainly: one obnoxious, spoiled, sarcastic, and infuriating brat. (Among other things of course.) _

**Of Blonde Secretaries and CPR**

**By:ClassicLit**

_Hey! Sorry for this chapter being so short. It's just that I left on a cliffhanger and I felt very bad for it. At least I thought, I would describe what happened right after. I didn't have time, but I worked with the amount of time I did have. Hope you like it!_

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&Midgar

"I can't believe this." Reeve mumbled quietly to himself while calling Reno's PHS for probably the tenth time in the past three minutes. How could Reno possibly disappear, with Yuffie no less, within 36 hours of taking the mission? How his red-headed employee got himself into trouble so quickly and so often was quite honestly beyond Reeve. Reeve growled in frustration when he was again met with the obnoxious away message that Reno recorded about three weeks back.

"Hey...I'd say I'm sorry, but heck I'm really not. I'm not busy; I just don't want to talk to you. Heh! If you leave a message I might call you back when I'm in a better mood…maybe." Reno's arrogant voice came at the other end of the line. The beep that followed the away message Reeve didn't hear considering he flung the phone across the room into the wall opposite his desk. The phone hit the wall about two inches from the door, startling the secretary that just came in. The blonde glared at Reeve while rudely dumping a stack of papers on his desk. When she made a show of slamming the door upon her exit, Reeve huffed softly to himself.

"And of course she forgets the coffee." This was all Reeve could say before collapsing back into his chair and going over all the ways he could kill Reno…if Reno wasn't dead already that is.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&Somewhere in the forest

Reno was vaguely aware of his PHS ringing some three feet off to the side. He cursed the damn thing quietly while shaking Yuffie and as expected getting no answer. He honestly knew where this was going, but not at all was he willing to admit that if his feeble attempts at waking her didn't work he'd have to perform CPR.

"Wakey, wakey princess." He said in a sing song voice, but when he didn't get an answer again he grew agitated. "Listen here brat, there is no way in hell I am dragging you back to Godo. Plus I know you're only faking, you're just lazy and don't wanna walk." He crossed his arms over his chest giving a good impersonation of a six year old child throwing a temper tantrum. He rolled his eyes at himself.

"I honestly have no idea of what I was trying to achieve with that." He said while shaking his head and giving Yuffie a once over for other injuries. "Well…at least I get to make fun of her when she wakes up…if she wakes up."

He closed her nose with the fingers of his left hand and put his right hand under her chin, lifting her face a bit upwards. He took in a deep breath and put his lips over hers breathing into her lungs while counting up to 5 in his head. He lifted his head and put his ear to her mouth to see if she was breathing. To his utter disappointment, she wasn't. At that moment something that was akin to worry settled in the pit of his stomach. No not worry…it would probably be more accurately described as…anxiousness. Yes that was it. He took another deep breath, but when his mouth was only an inch from hers, Yuffie's eyes shot open and she spit out water right into Reno's face, who was unfortunate enough not to have had the time to move to the side. She sat bolt up right and was coughing out the water from her lungs while Reno was trying to look more repulsed about the water than relieved that she was alive.

When she turned around to face him, he opened his mouth, but was rudely interrupted.

"What the hell did you think you were doing Turkey?" Yuffie screamed from her place looking thoroughly pissed. Now that he thought about it the whole scene was quite…suggestive.

"Don't flatter yourself princess" he gave her a grin "if it was not for the dire life or death situation I wouldn't even get within the vicinity of 10 feet." His grin turned into a smirk when he saw her cheeks flush red "Plus, you should be thanking me, I did save your hide after all." He heard a distinct growl from her general direction, but decided not to concern himself with it as he made his way to his PHS that was until then lying forgotten on the ground. He turned to her and saw that she was looking distinctly uncomfortable again.

"What is it?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You performed CPR?" she asked uncertainly. Reno had to chuckle at that one.

"If it helps you sleep at night princess." He said nonchalantly while starting his way further into the forest. "But, in more accurate terms it was mouth to mouth." He stopped and turned. He had to admit the expression on her face was absolutely priceless. The shocked/embarrassed look changed rather quickly though.

"What is that in your hand?" she asked, now looking curious more than anything. He looked towards his hand and saw the wet PHS. He smacked himself mentally. How could he just forget about the damn thing? "It's a PHS isn't it?" she continued matter-of-factly. He shook his head and looked at the offending piece of technology. He flipped it open, but to his aggravation the PHS lights flashed bright red before he saw a small message on the screen. He looked up to Yuffie who was looking inquiringly at him. He gave her a wry smile and put the PHS away.

"Don't tell me this." She said with wide eyes. "The battery is down isn't it?" This just wasn't his day.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&Midgar

Reeve dialed Reno's number again. He pressed redial for a while, but got bored to death, so he opted for actually moving his fingers. This time he was greeted with no ringing, just the away message.

"This is strange." Reeve muttered under his breath. "Did he turn it off." At that exact moment Reeve's eyes landed on a wire stretching from the nearby outlet to his desk. Reeve hung up the phone and crouched under the table. He followed the length of the wire and…BANG! He hit his head on the table as the same blonde secretary suddenly entered the room with another stack of papers. She again dumped them less than gently on his desk and briskly walked off, not forgetting to give him a reproachful look.

"Again, she forgets the coffee." Reeve huffed under his breath while finally determining the wire, to his utter horror, was Reno's PHS charger. "Oh no." Reeve mouthed while sitting back in his chair in a dazed stupor.


	5. Scream and Hide

**Beyond the Reflection**

_Disclaimer: I do not own FFVII. _

_Summary: When Reno takes on the investigation of a case in Wutai, he gets more than he bargained for. Mainly: one obnoxious, spoiled, sarcastic, and infuriating brat. (Among other things of course.) _

**Scream and Hide**

**By:ClassicLit**

_Hey you guys. I just had a concert in Carnegie Hall this Saturday. So sorry that I couldn't update. I will start spending more time on this story from now on. I only have homework and piano lessons for a while now. The only thing is that you aren't reviewing and I'm honestly not sure whether you like this story or not. I hope it is of no inconvenience to you to perhaps tell me if you like this story. Because if no one is reading, there is not much of a reason for me to keep writing. Thanks!_

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&Somewhere in a forest

This was bloody perfect. His vision was fading slowly, he could hardly breathe, his side hurt, and he felt dizzy. Bloody perfect now isn't it? Remember when Reno got his side torn by the spikes on the Leviathan summon? Well, the injury finally started begging for attention. Yuffie has gone ahead a while back, but by this point, Reno couldn't care less.

"I'll just go see if I could find a way out up ahead, since your being so slow!" Reno mimicked Yuffie in a very obnoxiously high-pitched voice. "Damn brat didn't even notice that I'm bleeding…" he murmured maliciously under his breath. He looked to his side and in fact the more he moved, the more his side bled. He was deathly pale by that point and was seriously contemplating the color of his coffin. He stopped to take a breath and noticed that in the past perhaps five minutes he moved approximately seven feet in a diagonal. He did not have much time to contemplate on his pathetic situation however because a shrill scream pierced through his ears. He grabbed his already throbbing head and fell slowly to his knees. Somewhere in the back of his mind it registered that the scream sounded like Yuffie, but he blacked out soon after the thought appeared.

In a few moments Yuffie came jumping over some bushes and diving straight for the Turk who was lying on the ground face down. She grabbed his left sleeve and started dragging him while mumbling almost incoherently.

"Listen Turkey this is no time to rest. There is a god damn…" by this point she already grabbed him around the torso to try and lift him up, but stopped abruptly as she felt that his shirt was soaked through. She slowly lifted her hand up to her eyes and inhaled sharply as she saw her hand covered in blood…his blood.

"You damn Turk!" she started whispering frantically into his ear as she set on her knees right next to his head. "When did this happen?" she asked sternly without getting an answer that she wasn't expecting to get in the first place. She slung his arm over her shoulder and started slowly and shakily getting to her feet. When she finally was upright she heard something moving not too far off. "Oh shit!" she mumbled and started frantically looking to all sides in the hopes of finding a place to hide. Fortunately for her and Reno, she spotted a small cave entrance not ten feet to her left.

She half carried and half dragged Reno to the cave. The sound that was almost inaudible before was becoming increasingly loud. She slowly lowered Reno to the ground while propping his upper body by the wall of the cave. She herself sat next to him and sighed in relief at having hid from the perpetrator. Her calm was short lived however as she heard that the noise was moving in their direction. She instinctively moved closer to Reno holding on to a sleeve of his jacket.

Reno at that point woke up with a start. He almost jumped when he felt her hand cover his mouth. Her eyes went to the entrance of the cave and Reno understood to remain quite. '_ Bloody prick' _Yuffie thought bitterly to herself '_here I am trying not to breathe and he comes up with a flourish.' _

Yuffie warily let her hand drop to the side.

"Stay quite and maybe he won't spot us." she whispered giving him a death glare for good measure.

"Well, princess" Reno whispered back scathingly "perhaps if you didn't scream so damn loud he wouldn't have noticed you and we wouldn't be in this predicament right now." he added a sarcastic smile while giving her a sidelong glance.

"Well Reno" she accentuated his name "perhaps if you were in any shape to move your slow ass, we wouldn't have to hide." She gave a triumphant smile but that was quickly wiped off her face.

"Well Yuff, not all of us were lucky to escape with a few scratches and a mouth to mouth from a rather attractive young man." it was his turn to grin from ear to ear.

Whatever she was going to say was cut short because Reno's hand flew up to cover her mouth after hearing the sound in the distance morph into recognizable footsteps that were in fact moving in their direction. Yuffie's eyes widened considerably and as the footsteps kept coming closer the more she moved toward Reno.

Reno more felt than saw her growing fear. She didn't squeak though, which he gave her credit for. How much was it the fact that she didn't show fear as opposed to the fact that his hand was still covering her mouth, he wasn't sure. He couldn't say that he was completely relaxed himself though. There was something particularly off he just couldn't put his finger on it. The whole case start going off when he almost recognized the figure, or at least found it familiar. Another thing that bothered him was the fact that whoever was following them didn't get to Yuffie before. With how loud she screamed it was pretty easy to get her in a heartbeat. Before he could linger on the thought for too much longer though, a spasm of pain traveled through his body and he could feel himself loosing consciousness. His last thought was that him surviving this time around would be one hell of a miracle.

Yuffie felt his grip on her mouth relax until his hand fell lifeless to his side. She understood for sure what was happening when his whole body began to slump forward. She reached out and wrapped her arms around his torso pulling him back towards her. The footsteps seized right in front of their cave. Yuffie thanked Leviathan that the cave was dark or it would have been very easy for the guy to see the two people leaning against the back wall.

"Hey stop fooling around." Yuffie heard someone shout from the left of the person. "We have more important thing to take care of right now." Yuffie breathed out a sigh of relief and slumped back into the wall.

_Thanks for reading hope you liked it!_


	6. Of Painful Shots and Fakes

fivestarsellout: Thank you so much for your review. I hope you enjoyed the rest of the story so far. Thanks for reading and please enjoy.

Damon Demon: Thanks for reading and thank you for the wonderful review. You are absolutely right about Yuffie, I just didn't know how to find a fitting way to embarrass Reno, but I think I managed it. Hopefully, you'll like this chapter. Thanks!

Anje: Thanks for reading. I think I'll make it Reno/Yuffie especially after Marinanthe's puppy dog eyes, but there won't be too much fluff. It is more of an action-humor piece. Hope you enjoy the story.

Nirvana44: Sorry for the late update. I was just really busy. I hope you like this chapter. I enjoyed writing it. Thanks for reading and reviewing too - Ejoy!

_Thanks everyone for reading and especially to those who took the time to review. I hope you like this chapter and sorry for the wait. Enjoy!_

**Beyond the Reflection**

_Disclaimer: I do not own FFVII. _

_Summary: When Reno takes on the investigation of a case in Wutai, he gets more than he bargained for. Mainly: one obnoxious, spoiled, sarcastic, and infuriating brat. (Among other things of course.) _

**Of Painful Shots and Fakes **

**By:ClassicLit**

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&In the cave

Yuffie sat still listening to car engine starting up not far from their hiding spot. She was still holding on to Reno for dear life so he wouldn't tumble forward. Finally about three minutes after the car was long gone Yuffie dared to take in a tentative breath and released Reno who unceremoniously fell to the ground sideways. Yuffie had a sneaking suspicion that he might have hit his head on the wall, but she didn't care at the moment. She made her way around the figure and kneeled at his side.

She took off his jacket and tossed it to the side. She started struggling to get him to sit up and take his shirt off, but Reno picked that moment to wake up. She finally steadied him without noticing that he had his eyes half open and went on to start unbuttoning his shirt. This would probably be a good time to let the reader know that Yuffie was ONLY taking off his shirt for the SOUL reason of fixing his injury and seeing that it wasn't infected. Now that we got that straight let's go on. Reno of course, even though half awake, noticed what she was doing.

"Irresistible aren't I." He slurred while looking at her with a small smirk. He really didn't have the energy. She growled back, but to his disappointment she didn't let him get to her and finished unbuttoning his shirt. She took the half soaked thing off him and kneeled next to his side. Her face twisted in apprehension when she actually saw the injury. It was certainly deeper than she anticipated, but didn't…hopefully didn't hit any vital organs.

"Hey Turkey" she said waking the already half asleep Reno "do you have any material on you?" she asked. He was tired and she could tell. He gave up on the idea of trying to speak and simply pointed to his belt. There she saw his mag rod and his gun. Unfortunately however there was no cure material on them. "Lousy, good for nothing…" she chanted while putting the weapons aside and giving the dazed Reno a dirty look. "How do you expect to get out of this alive?" she asked him acidly. She didn't get any response except a bitter half laugh, half cough that resounded through the cave.

She huffed to herself and started his half soaked shirt into strips. She made a somewhat make-shift bandage and tied it around the wound applying light pressure. Luckily for her…or more like luckily for him the blood flow stopped a while back and didn't start up again. She honestly couldn't believe it, it was just her luck. With difficulty she put the carelessly thrown jacket back on Reno, who in his half-dazed state grabbed her arm and now used it as a pillow as he slowly slid down to the floor of the cave.

Yuffie wasn't as lucky as to "slowly slide down", it was more of a jerk for her and her butt made solid contact with the floor. She was about to scream at the guy, but something distracted her. Something very hard that was right now digging into her lower back. She slowly reached her hand behind her back and dug around in the back pocket of her jeans. OH GLORY! There in her pocket was a PHS.

All of a sudden, the fact that Reno himself was lying on her arm didn't matter. She was actually willing to kiss him for not being able to open his big mouth and bitch about her chicken brains. SHE HAD A PHS. The realization couldn't have come at a better time…well, it could have, but any later and the Turk might have gotten his ass done for. He would have to thank her.

She flipped open the PHS, for the time being completely forgetting about the arm that started throbbing painfully due to the pressure that Reno's head was applying on it. She automatically dialed her dad and waited while the phone rang on the other end.

"Pick up, pick up, pick up…" she was chanting quietly, finally though her soft chanting was answered.

"Hello." Came a voice on the other end that Yuffie recognized right away.

"Umm dad…"

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&In a hospital in Wutai

Reno finally came to and the first thing he felt was pain. Damn it! He looked around himself and saw that absolutely everything was white. _'Either I'm in a hospital, or an insane asylum, on account of dreaming up stories about Leviathan summons and obnoxious Wutaian princesses". _Before he could finish the taught though, the door to his room opened slightly and a growling Yuffie walked into his room slamming the door behind her. When she saw him awake she froze in her tracks and gave him a puzzled look.

"Missed me?" he asked melodramatically. She just kept staring at him and then putting a determined look on her face marched right up to his bed.

"Why are you awake?" she asked irritably while placing her hands on her hips with an indignant sigh.

"Boy, I can see you're happy to see me princess." Reno said rolling his eyes at the unwanted guest. "Didn't really expect me to bite the dust this early did you?"

"Unfortunately." She said while pulling up a chair and placing it at the foot of his bed. "I knew, being a persistent pest that you are, you'd survive, but those" she point her thumb to the door while sitting down on the chair "…things didn't think you'd make it past midnight." Reno could only guess that "the things" were the doctors that treated him.

"What's the time?" he asked while the thought of not making it past midnight sunk in. Yuffie gave him a wicked smirk.

"Well…" she made a big deal of looking at the watch on her hand "right now it's still eleven thirty. So I wouldn't relax if I were you Turkey: no one knows what can happen within the next half hour." Yuffie finished off mysteriously.

"Mwa haha, oh evil genius." Reno added sarcastically while starting to inspect his surroundings. He wasn't so much inspecting what was around him as looking for his cigarettes. He spotted his suite jacket hung neatly on a chair at the corner of the room and went to get up, but a cold hand stopped him. He looked at Yuffie and shockingly she looked dead serious.

"The doc said no moving around. I don't want your bloody death on my hands…so stay the hell in bed." She said while slowly releasing his arm and taking her seat at the foot of the bed.

"Afraid to loose me snookums?" Reno asked in a sing-song voice while settling back in bed. Yuffie inspected him for a minute and when she realized he was actually…dare she say it…behaving, she gave him a smirk.

"Actually, the doctor said that once you wake up, you'll get a series of PAINFUL shots." Reno involuntarily blanched. Last time he had to get shots after an injury it was not pretty. Rude had to restrain him while the damn doctor was getting some…substance into him. Reno could only guess what the hell it was considering that when he initially saw the needle all semblance of rational thought left him. "I wouldn't want to miss it for the world." Yuffie said ignoring his expression. Reno gave out a loud sigh, since this will have to happen, it will just have to happen.

"Where the hell is everyone anyhow?" he asked agitated. Yuffie's smirk only grew at his annoyed voice.

"Well, Reeve called and said that they should do the bare minimum to keep you alive considering…" whatever she was going to say after that was cut off as Reno glared daggers at her. Yuffie shook her head and put up her arms in defeat. "Alright, alright. Reeve has been calling like crazy to see if you're alive. He's worried as hell…though I don't know why you're like a damn cockroach, impossible to kill…"she couldn't help but add and make a dramatic pause. Reno didn't take it to heart, but made a mental note that when he will get out of this hospital the brat will have hell to pay. "My dad is back at the Temple of Leviathan, Cloud and Tifa…"

"You brat!" she was rudely interrupted. She was simply stretching time they both knew, considering that the only thing Reno wanted to know was when the doctor would arrive with his PAINFUL shots. Yuffie broke in a fit of laughter and Reno scowled as her.

"He'll be here in about…ten minutes." She finished off with a triumphant smile while looking at her watch. Reno who was getting ready of pouncing settled back into his bed and tilted his head to look at the ceiling. The silence lasted about one minute, not long enough for Reno and too long for Yuffie.

"They're here." She sang softly while Reno was concentrated on listening to the footsteps that made their determined way towards his room. They stopped in front of the door and Reno could hear that whoever was outside the door was briskly flipping through papers. The figure slowly walked into the room and upon seeing Reno awake smiled broadly.

"Why, it's a great relief to finally have you up." The man who was dressed in a doctor uniform said with a small smile on his face. Reno didn't like him. Not at all. He looked fake. Reno looked towards Yuffie and noticed that she too was looking at the new comer suspiciously. Before Reno could open his mouth however, Yuffie jumped into the conversation.

"Where is Doctor Rogers?" she asked curiously still leveling the new comer with a very suspicious look.

"He sent me to get you Ms. Kisaragi." The man replied. "If you would please follow me." Then turning to Reno he gave him a half smile "Doctor Rogers will be here in a few please wait here." With that he started walking out the door and after giving Reno and meaningful glance Yuffie followed warily. Something wasn't right.

Reno almost chuckled at himself, if only the action wouldn't have been so pathetic. He is becoming a woman, he though resolutely. _'Something is off! What do I have women's intuition?" _He asked himself while shaking his head. He was about to write off the guy as simply…fake for a lack of better term. As in harmless fake, but his thoughts were cut short. The closet door that Reno hasn't noticed before finally gave way to a weight that was pushing on it. A man in a doctor's uniform fell out with a bullet in his skull.

Reno didn't waste any time, he jumped up and went straight for the body. There was really nothing that he could have done for he man, but he did notice the tag on the lab coat and it read 'Brian Rogers'. _'You are a fucking woman.' _Reno thought sarcastically. He could almost hear Yuffie's sniggering while making his way to his jacket that was still neatly hanging on the chair in the corner of the room. He took out his gun and made quick work of putting on his pants and ripping off the clothes that the hospital provided. The actions caused him tremendous pain, but he couldn't afford to waste any time. The pain was dulled however; it was probably the anesthesia from when the real doctor was putting stitches on his wound. Reno thanked his lucky starts one last time before putting on his washed and dried shirt. He ran out the door buttoning the damn thing as he went.

_Thank you so much for reading and again sorry for the late update. Sorry, sorry, sorry. I hope you liked the chapter. _


	7. Those Damn Nurses

Damon Demon: Thank you so much for reviewing and I'm glad you're enjoying the story. Sorry there won't be much interaction between Yuffie and Reno, but there surely will be some progress in the plot. Hope you enjoy.

Please enjoy!

**Beyond the Reflection**

_Disclaimer: I do not own FFVII. _

_Summary: When Reno takes on the investigation of a case in Wutai, he gets more than he bargained for. Mainly: one obnoxious, spoiled, sarcastic, and infuriating brat. (Among other things of course.) _

**Those Damn Nurses**

**By:ClassicLit**

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&Hospital, South part

Yuffie has been following this 'fake' guy for the past five minutes and frankly getting quite tired of it. He has not answered any of her persistent lines of questioning. In fact he didn't say one word after leaving Reno. Currently, Yuffie didn't know where they were going, why he needed her in particular, and what the hell he was going to do when they got to the destination. This of course put Yuffie on edge and made her hyper sensitive to the most trivial of details.

Mainly, what she noticed was that the guy in front of her was limping very slightly. Really, the limp was almost indistinguishable and she would probably never notice it unless the situation was…what it was. He was very tall and to be honest looked a bit intimidating. Of course not to the Great Ninja Yuffie, but overall he seemed a bit on the scary side. He seemed to be very strong as well, his muscles were practically ripping through the lab coat.

For the lack of anything better Yuffie let her overactive imagination take over. She started thinking up of all the most random, insane ways this guy could have gotten the limp. She smiled to herself and shook her head; there was no way in hell anything as crazy could have happened. She finally settled on him probably jumping off something and injuring his foot in the process.

Stop! Backtrack! Jumping off something and injuring his foot in the process. To do that he either needed to have jumped off somewhere high or he's a total klutz. She though option A was more probable. Something was nagging at her but she just couldn't put her finger on it.

They turned two more times and came to quite a secluded part of the hospital. Secluded in Yuffie language meant that not a soul was within a 15-foot radius. She looked around herself as he led them further down the hallway. This looked like the storage wing or something of the sort. The doors that were open were full of boxes and others had what looked like freezers in them. Probably medicine or blood Yuffie thought with a small shake of the head.

She diverted her attention back to the figure before her. Somehow he looked familiar and farther hey went the more unsettling she felt. The fact that as an employee of this god forsaken place he hasn't answered one of the questions that she, a customer of sorts, asked was disconcerting. As they rounded one more corner at the very end of the hallway the nagging stopped to be replaced with cold fear. Tall? Intimidating? Strong? Why did all these characteristics sound so familiar? The guy, the figure, her cousin, that day in the Leviathan Temple while it rained. It all clicked. Even the slight limp made sense. The guy did jump off the fourth floor of the Pagoda. It was a feat he didn't break his legs, but there he was…limping.

"By the expression on your face" he said with a small smirk spreading across his face "you've figured out who I am."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&Hospital, North part

Reno just bumped into another nurse who looked at him as if he lost it completely. As the others she tried to get him back into his room, but he would have none of it. It was actually harder, running, than he thought considering that the minute he put his legs in motion the pain in his side returned as if no anesthesia was ever applied. He had a sneaking suspicion that the stitches might have come off, but he laughed it off. The stitches were after all metal for now…right? He hoped so, because if they weren't, he'd in deep shit.

He was just running around like a maniac looking for Yuffie and the strange guy (who so happens to also be a murderer). He gave up on trying to ask anyone for help on finding the two because they would automatically ask whether he needed help in getting back to his room or simply (as the last nurse) scream that he shouldn't be out of bed. That was not very productive, not to mention quite annoying.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&Hospital, Reno's room

The Nurse that was actually assigned to Reno walked into the room to find how the patient was feeling, but a completely different picture greeted her from the one she left approximately an hour ago. Instead of Reno lying on the bed and the room neat, she found a dead body on the floor and the sheets that were supposed to be covering the sleeping Reno (who was not there) were also strewn around the bed. A very loud scream echoed through the hospital and the brunette promptly fainted.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&Hospital, South part.

Yuffie's hand automatically flew to her side where her shurikens were supposed to be. There was just a small problem…they weren't there. When she arrived at the hospital the doctor that checked over her (even though she found no reason in doing so) took away all her shurikens together with the belt. Damn it! This was just her luck that this 'fake' would pick this particular time to attack her.

"What do you want?" she growled trying to sound as confident as she could. To her surprise she succeeded.

"Tsk, tsk, don't rush to find out…you will in a few seconds." After wagging his finger at her, to which Yuffie scowled, he put his hands to his eyes. At first Yuffie didn't understand what he was doing, but then it hit her. He was taking off his lenses. His brown eyes turned blue as he removed the two spheres and tossed them aside. That's when Yuffie saw it. MAKO! His eyes were mako infused. Who the hell was he? Yuffie involuntarily took a step back. He took it as a sign of weakness and started advancing on her. Her immediate reaction to that action was…RUN!

That is exactly what she did. She ran in the opposite direction as fast as she possibly could. The guy didn't react right away. She already rounded the corner and she didn't see him move. She glanced back while running however and found something that wasn't particularly pleasing in her position. The guy looked absolutely calm and was gaining on her without any trouble. Yuffie blanched at the sight of his face. She turned around with the image of him smirking at her engraved in her mind. He looked like he was a cat torturing a mouse who has gotten itself into a trap. Now that Yuffie thought about it, that was pretty much the gist of her situation.

She didn't continue on with that line of thought for too long however because in her haste she didn't see the wall in front of her that she bumped into head on. She cursed under her breath as she closed her eyes and braced herself for the fall until a hand enclosed around her wrist and none too gently pulled her back up. When she opened her eyes, she saw Reno in a very sloppy state (not a big change from the usual) his shirt was half buttoned and the buttons that were buttoned were in the wrong places. He had a serious expression on his face and outstretched an arm over her left shoulder. She turned her head slightly to her left to see a gun in the Turk's hands before he put her behind him and stepped forward. This was probably the happiest she has ever been to see a Turk, even the she hated to admit it.

"Yuff?" he asked still keeping his gaze trained on the man who stopped across from the two. Yuffie flamed up immediately. The only reason why Reno would be nice to her would only be because he thought she suffered some trauma and Reeve would kill him if he did something to the mental state of princess. Her happiness over seeing him was immediately forgotten. How dare he? Doesn't he know that she fought Sephiroth! She was outraged. Reno noticed her expression and couldn't hold back the smirk that spread across his face. "Before you go into a rant on how you don't need me to be nice to you, or in general…" he paused and his expression changed from the casual to quite serious again. "Get out of here now." He whispered so the man across the hallway couldn't here him. Yuffie was about to retort, but was cut off by a curt "NOW" from Reno. She shot one last look at the man and then at Reno.

"I hope you know what you're doing Turk." She said quietly and turned fleeing the scene.

"So we meet again Reno." Said the man across the hallway; a strand of his jet black hair falling in his eyes. Reno had a casual expression on his face, not letting go of the gun that was still pointed at the perpetrator.

"So we do Demetri." He answered calmly. Now he knew why the figure in the Pagoda looked oh so familiar. "What brings you here?" he asked curiously.

"Don't start a conversation with me Reno." Demetri answered with a scowl on his face.

"I probably shouldn't" Reno answered smirking "I should shoot you right now." The guy didn't seem phased by this at all.

"Just like you to say that." Demetri said looking Reno in the eye. Reno felt utterly unnerved by that look. What did this guy have up his sleeve? "But if you do shoot me" he continued with a smirk "you'll never understand…" he was cut off as a nurse who walked out from a storage room shrieked upon seeing Reno's gun and dropped a tray with different surgical instruments on the floor. The poor woman ended up being within hand's reach of Demetri and without thinking the guy grabbed onto her and put a knife to her throat. "Well, Reno" he said with a twisted smile. "did you go soft, or will you let me kill her."

Reno's head was pounding now. He felt his hands grow weaker and weaker. His side hurt and he felt like the blood loss that he suffered through earlier was finally catching up to him. Fortunately for him, he didn't have to answer that question. He heard more than saw a ninja star wiz past his ear and implant itself in Demetri's shoulder. The man let out a yelp, let go of the nurse, and took off down the hallway turning into one of the rooms. It didn't take long for Reno to finally get a hold of himself and he ran after him. Unfortunately when Reno finally go there the only thing that greeted him was an open window with a light autumn breeze blowing though it.

_I hope you enjoyed the story, I know I enjoyed writing this chapter. Next chapter some questions will be answered! This is sort of a lead up. Thanks. Please review and let me know what you think, so know if I suck or not . _


	8. Crazy Drivers and Information Craze

Damon Demon: Thank you soo much for reviewing. I hope you enjoy this chapter and this will hopefully answer some questions about Demetri and the rest is a mystery. for now.

Evaeriefele: Thanks for reviewing. And good luck on the school stuff cause I'm getting just as much. Teachers are absolutely awful, they honestly don't care how much work we have to do. Lol.

Enjoy!

**Beyond the Reflection**

_Disclaimer: I do not own FFVII. _

_Summary: When Reno takes on the investigation of a case in Wutai, he gets more than he bargained for. Mainly: one obnoxious, spoiled, sarcastic, and infuriating brat. (Among other things of course.) _

**Crazy Drivers and Information Craze**

**By:ClassicLit**

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&Hospital, south part

Yuffie would really like to find what the _fuck _just happened? She hasn't heard much of the conversation between the guy and Reno, but she did what the guy said about Reno getting soft. So obviously the two knew each other. She marched up to the room that both the guy and Reno ran into and stopped in the doorway. As she expected the guy was nowhere to be see (plus the open window spoke for itself) and Reno was standing like the…Turk that he is (by the way this was a derogatory remark, just in case you were wondering). Yuffie knew that if she flat out asked Reno about this guy he would flip; but did she listen to her inner voice of reason that resurfaced once in a while? The answer to that was of course NO. Thus the action and reaction.

"What the _hell _was that about?" Yuffie screeched from her place in the doorway. Reno didn't give her a glance before heading straight for the doorway finding the floor to be very interesting. Yuffie didn't feel like backing down today however, that's why when he got to the door she didn't make a move to free the doorway for him to go out of the room. Reno stopped in front of Yuffie and she almost let out a sigh of relief considering she was fully expecting him to just walk into her.

"What do you want brat?" he asked finally looking up. He was a bit agitated, but other than that he was…normal (well, as normal as Reno could get). Yuffie did let out a sigh of relief and to Reno's raised eyebrow simply scowled.

"I said…" But she was rudely interrupted by an infuriating drawl.

"I heard what you said, brat. That doesn't mean you're getting an answer." Reno said rolling his eyes and crossing his arms over his chest. Yuffie coughed indignantly.

"Sorry to talk while you're interrupting" she said assuming a rather snooty expression "but, you're not getting out of here until you tell me who that…thing, I mean guy was." At that point she dropped all the pretenses of being pompous and flat out glared at Reno.

"How the hell do you plan on keeping me in here?" Reno asked with a fake dumbfounded look on his face. Yuffie had to admit he had a point there. She was certainly not something that would stop him from exiting, but hell would she succumb to that LOGIC. After all the word was a bit foreign to her.

"You don't want a ninja star up your…" this time she was interrupted by a soft cough from behind her. She jumped at the soft sound and upon turning around found herself face to face with her father.

"I thought I told you NOT to bother the poor guy who would happen to show up." Godo said with a light smile recalling the conversation at the end of which it was quite probable that if he didn't move he would have gotten hit with a heavy object on the head. Yuffie all but growled when she heard snickering coming from behind her back. Considering the only person that was in the room other than her father and her, as well as the fact that her father was definitely not making the irritating noise it was safe to assume that when the chance came Reno would get a good ass kicking. _'He deserves it.' _Yuffie thought wryly. Before she could say anything however Godo already turned to Reno.

"Hello young man" he said with a polite smile "I suppose that you are the ever famous Reno that Reeve has been raving about." Reno smile back and nodded. He certainly understood why Reeve would be 'raving' about him (get the sarcasm?).

"Afternoon sir." Reno said with a nod and then almost slapped himself. Afternoon? It was almost midnight or probably already past midnight. Reno could here Yuffie chuckling lightly in front of him and he shook his head. "I mean…hi." He finished off lamely. Godo simply nodded.

"Yuffie if you would please help our guest to the Pagoda, there will be a car waiting for you outside. I haven't slept myself for the past two days, please excuse my leave." Reno made to object considering he had a nice room in the hotel, but was quickly cut off. "No objections." Godo said with a smile and wave before leaving the two alone. Yuffie didn't waste much time before recuperating.

"As I was saying if you don't want a shuriken up…" she cut herself off this time by the look on Reno's face. What was he on to? She didn't have to ponder over that for long however.

"I think my legs are about tot give way." Reno said melodramatically flinging his arm to his forehead. "Be a nice girl and carry me." When Yuffie's expression remained emotionless Reno rolled his eyes. "Oi pest, you're supposed to HELP me to the Pagoda remember?" They stared at each other for two more silent seconds during which Reno started inching his way towards the door, then

"I'm gonna kill you Turk boy!" Yuffie howled at the top of her lungs exactly at the moment that Reno fled out of the room and down the hallway.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&Pagoda

After almost killing himself and Yuffie together with him they finally got to the Pagoda. The car ride was anything but pleasant. His fatigue caught on to him and the feeling of lightheadedness wouldn't leave him. The driver was absolutely atrocious at what he did. The turns were by far sharper than they should have been, he jerked the car when he sped up, and Reno almost went flying into the passenger seat on a few occasions when the car would come to a screechy halt. All in all he was nauseous and out of the corner of his eye, considering if he turned his head another wave of dizziness would hit him, he noticed that Yuffie wasn't doing so well herself.

But they arrived at the Pagoda nonetheless. Alive, if not a bit battered. By this point Reno could not really stand on his own two feet. He could feel the mettle stitches across his side, that were only going to be taken off in three days (as a real doctor said). He didn't have enough power to even get out of the car.

Yuffie, eager to jump out of the car and stretch did so, but after a minute of so noticed that Reno was nowhere to be seen. She walked around to his side of the car and opened the door to only be met with a handful of Reno. She pushed him back onto the seat and glared daggers at him.

"Get your ass up Turkey." She hissed at him upon seeing the lopsided grin he was giving her.

"Can you imagine that I'm getting up even as we speak?" he asked her seriously. Yuffie almost snickered at that, but instead opted for simply rolling her eyes.

"I could always imagine that." She answered with a smirk forming on her lips "but that won't get you to your room this evening." With that she made to leave, but stopped before she got too far. She turned around and saw that in fact Reno was not going to get up on his own. He was trying now; this actually consisted of getting up and leaning heavily on the car with jagged breaths. She rolled her eyes again and walked back to him.

"You owe me." She said while putting his arm around her shoulder and holding on to his waist. Reno simply grinned from ear to ear. With lots of trouble, cursing, and taunting they finally got to Reno's room and he gratefully fell on the bed. Yuffie was not ready to leave however. She sat cross legged on the floor in front of Reno's head, which by the way was buried in the pillow.

"When I said you owe me, I meant you owe me." She said determined to get what she wanted.

"Shit brat can't we do this some other time?" Reno asked half-whining and half-asleep.

"NO!" was the curt yelp which made Reno cringe. He shook his head and buried it further into the pillow. Before Yuffie could start screeching again he grunted.

"You want information donchya?" He slurred sleepily and Yuffie grinned like a maniac from ear to ear. "You're a sadist you know that?" He said finally lifting his head up and catching sight of the grin on Yuffie's face. He flipped onto his back and after Yuffie prodded him with her hand on his side (the injured side) he began. "What do you want to know?"

"Who was that guy?" Yuffie asked immediately; it was obvious she already had these questions planned out.

"His name is Demetri. He is a member of SOLDIER. Actually…scratch that he was a member of SOLDIER." Reno rubbed his hands at his temples and waited for the next question.

"What did he want?"

"Do I look like a mind reader to you Yuff? He didn't get as far as telling me that. The damn nurse had to walk in and interrupt." Reno growled lightly and put his hands back to his sides.

"How do you know him?"

"Perhaps six months before Meteor this guy was pronounced a traitor. He was apparently getting and selling ShinRa secrets to an underground organization called FIST. My job was to well…dispose of him. Me and Rude had to do it."

"FIST?" Yuffie asked a bit confused.

"Yeah, it was no AVALNCHE protagonist group." He said sending a small smirk in her direction to which Yuffie scowled indignantly. "This was a second ShinRa. Instead of building itself up however the leaders wanted to destroy the ShinRa from within and eliminate any kind of competition." Yuffie nodded trying to get this information to sink in. She was about to open her mouth when she heard soft snoring coming from the bed that was in front of her. Yuffie shook her head lightly realizing that Reno was far gone to answer any more questions. She quietly went out of the room and closed the door behind her.

_Hope you liked this chapter. Plus I also hope that you found it a bit informative as to what the mystery is about. _


	9. Headaches andGraphic Information

alescA Munroe: Thank you so much for reviewing and reading the story. I'm glad you're enjoying it. I loved writing it.

**Beyond the Reflection**

_Disclaimer: I do not own FFVII. _

_Summary: When Reno takes on the investigation of a case in Wutai, he gets more than he bargained for. Mainly: one obnoxious, spoiled, sarcastic, and infuriating brat. (Among other things of course.) _

**Headaches and...Graphic Information**

**By:ClassicLit**

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&Reno's room, Pagoda

Reno woke up with a killer headache in the morning. In fact he couldn't exactly open his eyes. The only thing that alerted him to the fact that it was morning was the painfully bright red that he could see behind his closed eyelids. Of course it could always have been Yuffie shining some ridiculously bright light in his face. He definitely wouldn't put it past her. Yet it seemed that this particular morning this would not happen due to the amount of sleep, or the lack thereof, that she got during their promenade through the forest. This brought him to the very painful reality that it was morning and he did have to open his eyes.

He pried one eye open and after not seeing anything of particular interest (just the room) he closed it again. It wouldn't hurt if he perhaps stayed in bed through the day, would it? He hoped not because he was counting on doing just that. Before he could harden his resolve however, the door to the room creaked open. One guess who it was.

"Wake up Turk boy!" that's right it was the devil incarnate herself. Reno pretended to not have heard her obnoxious attempt at waking him up. The next few seconds passed in complete silence. Then Reno felt a cold finger on his neck obviously measuring the pulse.

"I am still alive, brat." He said batting her hand away and turning over onto his stomach.

"Oh, damn." He heard behind himself and resisted the urge to do something horrible to her. Perhaps...His sadistic thoughts were interrupted by another exclamation.

"Don't you dare go back to sleep! Breakfast is in an hour and Godo expects you to show up. Get off you're lazy ass and get a move on it." Yuffie said bouncing out of the room. Reno rolled his eyes and almost burst into tears. This was such a good moment to strangle her he had the element of surprise going for him, but he didn't act on it and now the moment is lost forever. _"I couldn't move anyway"_ he assured himself and with that consoling thought he finally pushed himself off the bed.

A painful spasm shot through his body. He had a bad habit in forgetting about his injuries. Perhaps if he didn't forget about the stitches in his side he would have been more careful when putting all his weight on the right, or otherwise known as injured, side.

He stalked off moodily into the shower noticing his bag that he brought with him on the floor. After shrugging off his clothes he stepped into the shower. For a second there he couldn't feel anything after turning on the water. (Perhaps doing so with closed eyes was a mistake?) He soon found the reason for not feeling the anticipated flow of water hitting his body. His body was quite numb to say the least. Reason? The damn water was so cold. It was just his luck. "Even the fucking water isn't cooperating."

When he was finished with his WARM shower Reno, to his great chagrin, went into a coughing fit. Once that was over with he started sneezing. Stumbling out of the bathroom he almost lost his balance. _"Fucking wonderful"_ he thought wryly _"added to the extensive list of things I didn't want happening in the past four days is a godamn cold. Whoompty fucking do."_

He heard light chuckling coming from the doorway. He must have said that last sentence out loud. The laughter died down however as Yuffie turned her back on him and in an uncharacteristically soft voice asked if he found his bag. Reno, not for life of him, could figure out what would promote such behavior, but soon he noticed the source. Perhaps the fact that he was standing in the middle of the room with only a towel wrapped around his waist had something to with it?

Did Reno have any sympathy for others however? No, of course he didn't, thus seeing this as an opportunity to get back at the brat he plastered an infuriating smirk on his face and assumed a casual expression. His "entertainment" didn't get very far in its process however. Before he could say anything else he heard a rather distinctive sound of footsteps approaching the room.

Yuffie forgot about the little predicament she was in and became very alert to the sound that was coming from her left. In the corner of her eye she saw Reno freeze, which meant he too noticed. She was facing away from the sound and in all honesty she didn't want to turn. She was firmly set on not turning in fact until she felt a hand lightly land on her shoulder. She jumped at the unexpected contact and her first reaction was to throw a shuriken at the perpetrator. She intended on doing just that, but when she finally turned the perpetrator turned out to be Staniv.

The aid smiled faintly as Yuffie scowled lightheartedly at him.

"I just came to say that breakfast has already been served." He said and started walking off. "Don't kill the messenger." He added as his form faded down the hallway.

"Nervous much?" Reno asked with an amused quirk in his eyebrow. Yuffie simply growled before setting off herself down the hallway. Reno thought he heard a faint "You can find your own way to the dining hall." but he didn't concern himself with that and instead concentrated on getting dressed, which turned out to be more painful than he anticipated.

After finally being ready to go Reno could have slapped himself. He didn't know where his room was in proportion to the dining hall. In fact he had no idea where the hell the aforementioned dining hall was overall. He really doubted the possibility that there would be signs pointing the way to different rooms. He didn't even know where the damn exit was to get the heck out of there. Yuffie coming back and helping him was certainly out of the question. In other words his streak of bad luck was continuing and he was stuck in the damn room.

In essence he had two choices. Stay in the room and wait until Godo makes the brat go get him or wonder aimlessly around the Pagoda. Of course Reno went for choice two and with that in mind he went out of room and turned left down the hallway. A person with any common sense would try to remember, and succeed in doing so, which direction Yuffie went during her fit, but not Reno. Thus, he didn't heed the fact that Yuffie went right and he was slowly progressing towards the left.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&Library

Yuffie was sitting at a corner table in the library looking through old newspapers trying to find any snippet of information to give her an insight on FIST. It was strange to say the least, she has never heard of them. And if they were an organization who tried bringing down ShinRa, why didn't it contact AVALANCHE? Heck, why isn't it trying to come to power now? She almost gasped at that last thought. Maybe it is. She shook her head lightly and went back to looking through the newspapers.

As she was busy flipping through the pages a feeling of guilt settled in her stomach and wouldn't leave her alone. Alright, so she lied about the breakfast to Reno. In all reality breakfast was served at the dining hall whenever a guest would come in and ask for food. She just wanted to be mean and get him up before he wanted to do so himself. She shook her head again to rid herself of the feeling. The damn Turkey deserved it.

She sighed lightly and focused back on the newspapers in her hand. She was about to label her search as futile until she ran across something that caught her attention. It was an article predating current ones by three years.

_"Last night a man was found in sector seven slums in a bad shape with quite an amount of horrible injuries. He had bruises and lacerations all over his body, his shoulder was dislocated, he had two broken ribs and his neck was broken as well. The doctors have yet to stabilize the condition of this mysterious figure, but one thing is for sure due to the fractured tie between the spinal chord and some of the nerve endings the man will be paralyzed from the waist down if not completely. The identity is yet to be established." _

Yuffie blanched. That sounded absolutely horrific. Did it have anything to do with ShinRa? She dug around in the pile that she got the last article from and found another interesting one predating current events by two years.

_"A man was found brutally murdered on ShinRa front entrance door steps. His body was mutilated beyond recognition and etched across his chest was a sign "It Starts". The ShinRa failed to comment on the..."_

The article was snatched of her hands and before she could so much as protest she saw Reno lounging in a chair across from her reading over the aforementioned article. He folded the paper neatly and placed it on the table before giving Yuffie a lopsided grin.

"Curiosity killed the cat." he said teasingly while lounging even further back into the chair, if it was humanly possible.

"I don't see any cats around here. And I am quite human thanks." Yuffie growled while glaring daggers at him.

"Keep growling and maybe I'll believe ya." Reno shot back giving her a smirk to rival Lucifer himself. Yuffie simply rolled her eyes at that one and fell back into her own chair.

"Talk now!" she said authoritatively while mock glaring at him and insinuating that this is an interrogation. Reno quickly picked up on that.

"Brat, I know you're not pathetically trying to interrogate me right now." he said with a raised eyebrow. Yuffie only smirked back.

"Don't like the taste of your own medicine eh Turkey?" When Reno simply shook his head Yuffie knew she was rubbing soar spot and that was never a good thing when the action involves Reno on the receiving end. She retracted and decided to take a different approach. Before she thought her actions through she was already climbing onto the desk and situating herself right in front of the Turk. She shook her finger at him with a halfhearted glare.

"I don't care whether you "feel" like discussing that article or not, but guess what you're going to. And you're not telling me something that you know." Reno was quite for a few seconds and then

"Well, I was born in Midg..." he got a well-deserved punch on the arm for that one accompanied by a growl. He fell back in his chair feigning death, but he saw no reaction from the now stoic Yuffie he dropped his mask of pain. "What are you interested in hearing pest?"

"Will you answer?"

"Depends on the question." Reno answered with a smirk. Yuffie sighed, climbed off the desk and settled back into her chair. Putting her hands together in a typical psychiatrist fashion she assumed the most serious expression she could master.

"Tell me about your childhood then." she said sobbing a bit for full effect. Reno rolled his eyes at her childish antiques.

"I'm hungry and I'm leaving." he said slowly and started getting up. Yuffie, unlike what Reno hoped she would do, stayed put instead of helping him get to the dining hall. He froze at the doorway.

"How about we make a deal. Ill answer three of your questions and you'll get me to the dining hall." Before thinking for too long Yuffie was out the door and Reno could only shake his head and run after her.

They arrived at the dining hall and Yuffie sat him down with a halfhearted wave towards the table and went somewhere off to the side to talk to the chef. Reno took a seat at the corner of the table and began to examine his surroundings. There was certainly something royal about it. The deep crimson curtains that covered the huge windows that showed the beautiful garden outside were very much tasteful. The light streaming through the crack between the curtains was dulled and cast almost an ethereal glow across the huge room. He didn't have much time to admire the scenery seeing as Yuffie walked in the room with a huge grin on her face followed by two servants with as much food as Reno could probably eat in one year.

"Now you're not twisting out of this." Yuffie said triumphantly. Her triumph was lost on Reno however as the Turk completely disregarded the gloating 'teenager' (by his words) next to him and proceeded to eat.

_Sorry I had to stop here. This chapter would have been way too long because I couldn't think of another possible place to end so it would make sense. Plus I want to torture you. Mwa haha! Alright I'm done with my sadistic act. On a more serious note however could you please review because I'm sometimes not sure if you guys like this story and it would really help if you could review. Criticism is always welcome. _


	10. Trust and Loyalty

_Damon Demon: Thank you so much for your review and if you do have any criticism please let me know I really want to know how I can improve. Lol_

**Beyond the Reflection**

_Disclaimer: I do not own FFVII. _

_Summary: When Reno takes on the investigation of a case in Wutai, he gets more than he bargained for. Mainly: one obnoxious, spoiled, sarcastic, and infuriating brat. (Among other things of course.) _

**Trust and Loyalty**

**By:ClassicLit**

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&Dining Hall

It was truly something to try and get information out of Reno. Everything was classified. Fortunately he had enough decency not to count the questions that he answered classified to as part of the originally agreed to three questions. Yuffie growled in annoyance and glared at the amused Turk sitting across the table from her obviously enjoying himself.

Unknown to Yuffie however he wasn't enjoying himself as much as he looked to be. He really didn't want to remember the body that was dropped off at ShinRa headquarters. It was truly mutilated beyond recognition. Actually the identification of the man was established by his fingerprints. Some scientist was smart enough to remember that ShinRa holds the records with information for everyone in SOLDIER as well as all the other employees, including their fingerprints. Of course it became quite clear who exactly was killed when he didn't show up for training the following morning. Reno sighed to himself and looked across the table at the glaring teenager. She hasn't said a word in the past three minutes and that mean that she was without a doubt very pissed.

"Fine." He said with a snort. "I will answer a classified, just one however so make it good." Yuffie lifted her head a bit but growled nonetheless.

"We agreed to three questions." She said glaring daggers. Reno simply smirked and looked away from her to the side.

"Take it or leave it." He said with the smirk spreading into a grin. Yuffie huffed but incline her head in thought. By this movement the Turk understood that she accepted the proposal. She lifted her head a moment later and smiled lightly.

"Alright then." She said taking the newspaper article about the man in the slums out of her pocket and handing it to Reno. Reno took and read over the content. After he was done his eyes widened a bit, he was certainly not expecting this considering everything Yuffie asked up to that point was on a different track entirely. "Tell me everything you know about this guy including who did this to him, who he is, and why anyone would want him dead or was it simply sadism." Reno shook his head but decided not to mention the fact that this wasn't in a form of a question and if it was there were three different one incorporated in that one run on sentence. Well, since the brat was certainly not going to leave him alone and this has something to do with HER country, he guessed he owed her at least one explanation. Plus if he was stuck two heads are better than one.

"Probably a couple of days before that article…I had too much of a hangover to remember the date or time…we got called to the president's office." Yuffie rolled her eyes when Reno gave her an apologetic grin. Trust the damn Turk to get drunk the day before he has to go talk to the president. "The beginning of the meeting is a bit fuzzy to me. I definitely remember that part of it was a lecture because of my state of dress and the inattention." Yuffie rolled her eyes again. She got used to the Turk's sloppy appearance sans tie, but now that she thought about it there was no way that the company allowed for such bullshit. A picture of Rude floated into her mind and she mentally compared the two. Needless to say she understood quite well why Reno deserved a lecture from his employer…not to mention the fact that he was probably in a drunken stupor at the time.

"Alright already." She said a bit aggravated and waved him on. Reno gave her a death glare that quite clearly said 'if you talk too much I'll stop telling' and smirked when Yuffie shrunk back in her seat.

"As I was saying before the misfortunate interruption…" Reno said giving Yuffie a sidelong glance.

_&&&&&&&&&&Flaskback&&&&&&&&&_

_President sat in his chair staring at the clock that hung over the door that marked the entrance to his office cold as ever. The Turks sat in front of him in a semi circle waiting patiently for the president to start the briefing. Finally the man gave a soft sigh and started up. _

"_I need you to take care of something for me." Reno, in his inebriated state, still had enough energy to snort. The president ignored it and continued. "There is a resistance group forming in the slums and I need it gone." He looked at Tseng and Rude being the two sensible ones unlike Reno who flat out didn't care. "The organization is named FIST and it is a fast growing resistance. They have managed to raid one of the trains with good traveling to ShinRa headquarters." He froze as if in though and then with a sneer "I don't' want this to happen again." He said slowly and gave the Turks a once over. Even Reno had the brains to stay silent. No on ever wanted to see president ShinRa pissed. "As far as I understand," he continued "it's far too small to continue without a leader and that is exactly who I need you to take care of." _

_He pushed the files on the left corner of his desk towards the Turks and gave a wave of his hand signaling them to take the files. Tseng and Rude nodded while Reno simply shook his head looking at the file that resided by this time in his hand._

"_Dismissed." The president said while picking up a paper off his desk and turning his attention to it while the Turks filed out of the office. _

_&&&&&&&&&&&&&End Flashback&&&&&&&&&&&&&_

"Needless to say" Reno continued "this had to be done before that night so that the train that was arriving at ShinRa headquarters at midnight would be safe." Yuffie flinched a bit. Reno gave her a strange look.

"So you did all this to him?" she asked while her eyes widened a bit. Reno decided to joke it off.

"I thought I was only answering one question." Unfortunately for Reno Yuffie was not joking around. In fact she was absolutely serious about that question. She narrowed her eyes and was about to start pouring the Turk with all the dirt phrases that she learned from Cid before…

"I didn't get the chance." Reno said more seriously. He could see Yuffie relax back into her chair and let out a sigh of relief himself. He didn't feel like dealing with her bitchiness right now. The momentary relief was replaced with a puzzled look on Yuffie's face.

"What do you mean by you didn't get the chance to?"

"Well, perhaps if you didn't interrupt I could tell you."

_&&&&&&&&&&&&&&Flashback&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& _

_Tseng was positioned on a roof of a very old looking building. At some point in time it might have been a weapon shop, but certainly not anymore. Added to the fact that time turned its back on the poor looking shop it looked haunted. If you're wondering, this description is leading up to the fact that the immediate area surrounding it was absolutely abandoned. Rude and Reno were positioned on the other side of the street about a block up. The train was supposed to come through the west side of sector 5 and the Turks were waiting patiently for any sign of FIST members attacking it. _

_Reno checked his watch for the third time in the past five minutes and saw that it was five minutes to midnight and sure enough Rude elbowed him in the stomach lightly jerking his head toward the direction of three silent figures standing on the left side of the train tracks between Tseng and Reno+Rude's location. Reno looked up to the roof of the building where Tseng was and by the fact that the Turk leader looked like a statue he understood that Tseng noticed them too. _

_The three figures stood silently next to the tracks not exchanging even a look. Reno got very unnerved by this. What kind of a raid team is so distant towards each other? Aren't they partners? Rude and Reno exchange a quick glance. It made no sense. Reno's question was soon answered however. The two men standing a bit behind, was Reno assumed to be, the leader slowly took out clubs. Before any of the Turks could react they started fighting the man in front of them. The truth being it wasn't much of the fight. Their leader obviously wasn't expecting an attack. They simply knocked him out and started dragging him away. _

_Needless to say the Turks were quite confused so they reported back to the president. They man simply waved them off as if he was expecting for this to happen. You can imagine their surprise when they found the article in the newspaper discussing the man's state of being. _

_&&&&&&&&&&&&&End Flashback&&&&&&&&&&_

"With little trouble Tseng was able to find out that along with the Turks the president sent two spies into the organization who we saw when we were on the mission. Tseng also found that mostly the president sent us to see through that it happens. This of course raised another very interesting question. Did he trust these SOLDIER members to get the job done? They obviously did, but..." Reno hesitated while Yuffie nodded her head for him to continue. "This is when I met Demetri. He was one of those SOLDIER members that the president didn't trust." He stopped and sighed. Yuffie nodded again hoping that he won't stop there. Actually he opened his mouth to continue until one of the servants burst through the door and ran up to Yuffie.

"Milady, His Majesty requests you're presence in the Temple of the Ancients." Yuffie waved him off and turned back to Reno. The servant didn't leave however. "He said that it's an emergency." Reno and Yuffie glanced at each other and without exchanging any of words started out the door.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&Temple of the Ancients

Godo sat in his usual spot staring at the wall in front of him. Staniv was the only other person in the room. He was sitting to left of Godo lost in thought.

"Why would anyone need it?" Godo asked Staniv not looking at him directly. "Who would remember such a trivial detail?" Yuffie and Reno picked that particular moment to Bust through the door.

"What's going on?" Yuffie asked through her jagged intake of breaths.

_Hoped you enjoyed. Please review if it of no inconvenience._


	11. Vibrant Crimson

**Beyond the Reflection**

_Disclaimer: I do not own FFVII. _

_Summary: When Reno takes on the investigation of a case in Wutai, he gets more than he bargained for. Mainly: one obnoxious, spoiled, sarcastic, and infuriating brat. (Among other things of course.) _

**Vibrant Crimson**

**By:ClassicLit**

_Thank you so much for everyone who is reading this story. SOOOOOO sorry for the late update. I've just been busy and had an attack from the plot bunnies. I'm sorry. Promise the next one will come much quicker. Hope you enjoy the chapter. ALSO in the last chapter I accidentally said that Yuffie and Reno got called to the Temple of the Ancients…that's obviously not right. Sorry. I mean to say the fourth floor of the Pagoda…hm…looks shiftily around. Thank you so much for all of you who reviewed. Love you all!_

When both Reno and Yuffie calmed down Godo casually gestured to the two seats in front of him. The duo looked at each other before assuming their 'assigned' seating as was directed. Reno through the whole ordeal was not a very happy camper. He didn't like taking orders from his officials—as in the people who pay him—or more precisely the people who pay for his apartment and booze. Was there really anything else he needed? He definitely didn't enjoy taking orders from Godo…after all Reno never agreed to live in monarchic conditions. He rather enjoyed the mobocracy—or rather plutocracy. Yuffie had to shoot him a death glare before he actually sat down.

"We finally figured out what was stolen from the Pagoda on the day the two of you disappeared." Godo said somberly with a hint of amusement at the second part of his statement. Reno couldn't help but roll his eyes. They JUST figured it out? "It was a small mirror that was hanging off the statue of the dragon in the left corner." Godo continued; ignoring Reno and pointing to the aforementioned statue.

"So what's the depressing atmosphere for. I'll go buy another mirror." Yuffie, always the optimistic one. Godo shook his head.

"It's not just any mirror; you can't buy another one like it in a store." He said a bit sadly.

"Don't tell me there is some wacko legend connected to it." Reno finally spoke up. Even though the comment was quite cheeky there was an underlying tone of something akin to dread. Godo looked up and nodded slowly. He then picked up an old-looking parchment that was lying on the floor next to him. He untied the blood-red ribbon that was tied in a neat knot around the scroll and after clearing his throat began reading.

"_Out of everything that I leave for the generations that will surely follow; I would like to stress the importance of one item in particular. On the fourth floor of the Pagoda, among the assortment of different interesting-looking_ _statues and other accessories of a shrine there is something very plain. A simple mirror hangs off one of the dragon statues, that is situated in the left corner of the square room. It is almost invisible due to the fancy background of the golden dragon; but it is there nonetheless. I first noticed it when I was reading and a red beam of light fell over the pages of my book. I mistook it for the setting sun, before I saw the ray change into a golden, then a green, and finally a purple color. I looked up and saw the small rhombus shaped mirror gleaming back at me; still shining with a vibrant purple hue. I looked around the room, but failed to spot any object that even faintly bears the color. Much less an object that could radiate it enough to make a beam flicker off the mirror. _

_I seized the mirror, bringing it closer to my eyes and to my great shock I couldn't see my reflection. All I could see was the purple light. I retreated that day to my study; but no matter what I tried doing, I couldn't get the phenomena out of my head. How could a mirror not reflect what is in front of it? Perhaps, it reflects what's inside it? _

_The next day I came back in the morning. I took the mirror and after brining it closer I saw my reflection. Am I crazy? Did I imagine what I saw yesterday? Or rather what I didn't see? It couldn't have been. _

_I was in a trance for the following few days. I couldn't eat, I couldn't sleep, I couldn't function. My brain seemed frozen. A week passed and I decided to revisit the source of my chagrin. At sunset I went back to the fourth floor and upon reaching the entrance my eyes were assaulted by a green light. The source of it was the mirror. I looked into it, and again I couldn't see my reflection. _

_I kept coming back to the mirror and every time I would see my reflection, except at sunset. At sunset I could only see the dancing light change form green, to red, to yellow, to purple. I tried moving everything golden and red out of the room, until only the brown walls remained, but still the mirror would show red and yellow. I don't even want to think about how it picked up on green and purple. _

_Every day, every hour, every minute of my time became consumed by thoughts of what this might mean. I have arrived at one conclusion soon after. The mirror shined the color of materia._

The journal continues after three years.

_I'm too old. I can't move. I have become blind. Doctors say I might be going crazy. They don't understand. They don't understand my obsession. I need to see the mirror again. I can't, however. As I said, I'm blind. I'm dying. _

_Lord Kisaragi_

_First Ruler in the Kisaragi Line."_

A tense hush fell on the room. Not so much fell as lasted throughout Godo reading the journal entry.

"Your Majesty." A young herald went into the room with a bow. "You're audience is requested at the Temple." Godo nodded and got up before wordlessly leaving the room with Staniv following closely behind.

Reno and Yuffie set there almost mesmerized face-to-face with the parchment, innocently lying on the wooden floor in front of the duo.

"The first ruler of the Kisaragi Line." Reno said while getting up. He picked up the parchment and skimmed it idly. Yuffie let out a rather derisive snort.

"I wouldn't trust much of what he says. The comment about the doctors considering him crazy is not so far from the truth." Yuffie said slowly while getting up herself.

"Runs in the genes then I see." Reno said while giving Yuffie a calculating look. She scowled.

"I'm not kidding. He was a crazy, old coot who shouldn't be trusted on a word said. This…" she threw her hands up in the air to make sure her point gets across "is a culture that believes absolutely everything. As long as it's a tradition it's taken for God's truth." She sighed and sat back down on the mat.

"So tell me" she said looking up at Reno who was leaning against the wall "why the hell would an ex-SOLDIER want this mirror?" Reno shrugged.

"Remember they're all injected with Mako. I wouldn't be surprised if they were all coots also." Yuffie smirked.

"Ah so you admit to being off your rocker." Reno scowled at her. "About time too Turkey." Then she shook her head as if to clear her thoughts and looked at Reno inquisitively. "So you think Deme…whatever his name is actually believed in some magical power of this mirror?" Reno shrugged again.

"As I said: I wouldn't put it past him." They lapsed into silence. It lasted for some time until Reno broke it with a rather alarmed expression on his face.

"Oi brat, did you hear that?" he asked looking at her.

"Hear what Turkey?" She asked standing up when he pushed off the wall and walked towards the middle of the room.

"Shh…listen." She strained her hearing, but still couldn't hear anything. She shook her head with an agitated sigh. She could hear birds, some people talking outside…hold it…outside?

"Do you mean the talking?" she asked him quietly. He walked towards her with a nod. "You don't think it's outside?" she asked even quitter now that he was very close. He shook his head in the negative. Then he did something she definitely wasn't expecting. He leaned in and snaked his arm around her waist while keeping his gaze on the ceiling. Yuffie froze. What the hell was he doing? Reno grinned cheekily at her shocked expression after retrieving what he was looking for from her belt. Mainly: the shuriken.

"Bastard." She spat when she saw HER shuriken gleaming in his hands.

"Why…whatever did I do?" he asked with an innocent expression on his face. She all but growled and took a rather large and pointedly exaggerated step away form him. "Bitter?" he asked with a smirk. She was going to respond, but their brewing spat was silenced by two voices that the both heard earlier. Reno put a finger to his lips and Yuffie nodded in obedience.

He walked towards the far wall and implanted the shuriken in it. Yuffie winced at her cherished weapon being so mistreated, but she decided to keep it quite for the time being and get the arrogant Turk later. He then calmly proceeded to step on HER shuriken and stand on it with his head reaching the ceiling. She almost lost it.

"You're going to break it Turkey." She urgently whispered. Who said he could do that to—may I remind you—HER shuriken. He turned to her and waved his finger at her with a hushed 'tsk'. She growled and folded her arms over her chest.

"If your fat ass will break my precious shuriken I'm coming after you." She sat down on the floor giving quite an interesting impression of a child throwing a temper tantrum. Reno was not lost on how the picture looked, but he decided to bother her later. He turned back to the ceiling and strained his hearing to see if he could discern the exchange upstairs. Somewhere between first hearing people upstairs and standing on the shuriken Reno considered that perhaps he was overreacting. It could have simply been representatives, or guards. Those though flew out of the proverbial window once he heard the hushed and alert manner in which the occupants of the fifth floor were speaking.

"This isn't going to happen." One voice whispered nervously. It was a rather high tenor and not aesthetically pleasing at all.

"Yes it is." Came a rather agitated answer. This was a pleasing baritone, but in Reno's current situation voices weren't exactly the dominant attention factors.

"But…" The tenor was interrupted by the second voice.

"No buts. We need the activation and then to Kalm." Said the baritone and Reno could hear shuffling as if they were searching for something.

"And we can destroy ShinRa?" the tenor asked hopefully.

"Shh." It seemed the whole topic was a hush-hush. Reno didn't waste much time by that point. Jumping off the shuriken he ran towards the elusive stairs that were on the other side of the room. Yuffie wretched her shuriken out of the wall—noting how Reno had quite the amount of strength to be able to drive it into the wall that deep—and ran after the Turk who was already half way up the stairs.

Reno had the misfortune of reaching the fifth floor first and getting fired at. Yuffie either not paying attention, or deciding not to do so, knocked right into the retreating red-head. They both fell in a heap onto the floor at the feet of the two perpetrators.

"Well, well, well. Aren't we in luck." It was the man with the baritone…who was also holding the gun, I might as well mention. "Both the princess brat and the nuisance from ShinRa." Yuffie tried to slowly crawl off Reno by that point, but the man pointed the gun straight at her with an infuriating 'tsk'. She froze in place and looked apologetically at the squashed Turk.

Reno on the other hand did not feel as threatened by the gun as Yuffie was. He calmly got up and helped Yuffie up as well without even looking in the direction of the aforementioned, POISED gun. Yuffie numbly accepted his outstretched hand before ducking right behind him. He dusted himself off slowly before finally looking up at the two dark figures and with a smirk—

"If she's a brat doesn't mean I have to suffer." He said trying to ease the atmosphere for Yuffie, but she didn't seem to take the bate.

"I don't think you heard the rest of the sentence." The tenor said with agitation. Reno couldn't see the face of either guy. They were both covered by black hoods from their long coats.

"You see I have attention span problems. I can't seem to pay full attention to dumbasses." He gave the two a rather fake, apologetic grin and shrugged. "Is that a crime?" The one with the tenor voice moved forward threateningly. Of course he misjudged one little detail. Reno was a Turk and didn't get intimidated that easily. That ended up in him looking like more idiotic. Thankfully, or unfortunately for Reno who was enjoying himself, the baritone broke the rather unnerving silence.

"I think I'll finish this right now." He said lifting the gun and pointing it directly at Reno's heart.

The sound of the fired shot echoed through the fifth floor. Three crimson drops fell fading into the brown of the wooden floor. Then another was added and soon the floor beneath Reno's feet was a rather unnerving red color. The two figures went as quietly as they came, completely wordless. Reno stood frozen in shock at what happened. What was she thinking!

"Yuff damn it." He said catching her limp body in his arms as the blood from the bullet wound in her shoulder spilled onto his hands.

"We're even Turkey." She said pointing a disoriented finger in his general direction as he laid her on the floor. "I didn't drown you didn't get shot." She said a bit more coherently.

"We sure are kid." He said while stripping his jacket and tying it around the pressure point on her arm. "We sure are."

_You didn't actually think I'd kill Reno did you? Hope you liked this chapter. Also made it a bit longer for your pleasure. Thanks for reading. Please Review! _


	12. Of Ice and Forests

"_BOB": I would really like to thank you especially for your reviews because when I was starting the story my main concern was for the characters to…well stay in character. Thank you so much for enforcing that I'm actually doing a better job of it than I thought myself. _

**Beyond the Reflection**

_Disclaimer: I do not own FFVII. _

_Summary: When Reno takes on the investigation of a case in Wutai, he gets more than he bargained for. Mainly: one obnoxious, spoiled, sarcastic, and infuriating brat. (Among other things of course.) _

**Of Ice and Forests**

**By:ClassicLit**

_Thank you so much for the reviews; they were absolutely wonderful. Thank you, Thank you , Thank you. I hop you like this chapter. _

Within two hours of the incident Reno found himself sitting next to the bed that he lay upon, about a day ago, after his, and Yuffie's, escaped in the forest. He tried not to show it; but he was relieved that she seemed to be back to her annoying self. Currently, for instance, she was complaining rather loudly about the medication that the doctor made her gobble down. Reno was only happy that she would fall asleep soon enough due to the particular medication.

"What are you staring at Turkey?" she asked him agitated after he spent about two minutes starring out of the window on the left side of the room. He snapped out of his reverie and looked at her with an annoyed expression. Perhaps, he thought too soon when he said he was happy about her being back to her annoying self. The injury obviously didn't do anything to deter her over-exuberant temperament.

"Anything except your ruffled feathers, brat." He said and pointing to her hair that was in a state of complete chaos. Being so short it was sticking up in strange and unnatural angles. All in all, at that point in time, one Yuffie Kisaragi made for one comic character.

"You should talk Turkey." She said bitterly while trying to smooth out her black locks. "Your hair's just as bad…at least I have a GOOD REASON for having mine a mess. What's your excuse?" She gave up on the futile attempts to get her hair to stay down and instead opted for glaring at the red head.

"For your information" Reno said, running his hand through the red locks. "my hair's not a mess…it's in a state of artistic chaos." He finished drawling with a triumphant smirk on his lips. Yuffie snorted bitterly.

"Is that what your rabid admirers tell you?" she asked folding her arms over her chest.

"Bitter Snookums?" he asked with a lopsided grin. She growled and almost punched the arrogant red-head when he leaned forward and placed his hand on her forearm, in a comforting manner, with the most innocent look on his face. "No reason to be jealous, babe. You know you're my one true love." He said while giving her pout. Yuffie, unbeknownst to the aforementioned red-head, decided to take another way out. If she couldn't punch him, because of her arm; she could smile innocently at him…and then spill the water that was standing on her bed side table over his head.

If you're doubting the legitimacy of the previous statement, doubt it no longer. Yuffie did in fact grab the glass of water that was placed on her bedside table and pour it over Reno's head. Reno, for his part, jerked back out of shock and his chair tipped over an almost strategically-placed cushion that was situated behind the red-head. Well…you can guess what happened afterwards. Crash, boom, profanities, and Yuffie's laughter.

Reno jumped up and whirled around to look at Yuffie. By the time that happened she had composed herself somewhat, but his appearance made her dissolve in laughter once again.

"Ha ha very funny." He said sarcastically while analyzing his wet suite and running a nervous hand through his wet locks. "If you weren't shot brat…you really don't want to know what I'd do to you right now." Yuffie disregard this statement completely and gasped through her sporadic fits of laughter.

"You look like a wet cat." She said composing herself for a moment and regarding Reno mischievously. Then she put on a look of mock-horror with big innocent eyes. "Did I just do that?" she asked pointing to herself. When Reno growled in response she shrugged her shoulders and gave him a mock-apologetic grin. "Oops?" Reno sighed and shook his head dejectedly. Wasn't she supposed to asleep by now? He picked up his chair and sat back on it sliding down slowly to the point that he almost looked like he was lying down. He sat like that, in silence, for about a ten minutes until he heard a soft snore come from the bed in front of him.

"Hey brat?" he asked quietly, getting no answer. He stood up and tried again, but the silence greeted him for the second time. If anyone would be standing next to Reno at that moment, they would most likely jump away from him due to the unnerving grin that found its way to his face. He looked like a man with a rather lethal piece of weaponry at his disposal. There was the nagging feeling at the back on his head(conscience was it?) telling him that he should continue with the case. Did he ever listen to that thing, however? Of course not. So what became his primary concern? Revenge.

Cat-like, he slowly tip-toed out of the room and turned left down the hallway. He entered a door at the very end and was gone for a few minutes. If there was anyone there they would have seen the wet, red-head slowly making his way down towards room number 666, or more popularly known as Yuffie's room, with a white container in his hands. They would also see him walking out ten minutes later with a camera in his hands and a drying photo, grinning like a cat. They would also see him walking out of the hospital through the back door admiring the small print that he held in his hands. Luckily for Reno no one did see him.

No one also noticed the rather sadistic, yet amused, grin that settled over his features when an ear-piercing girlish scream was heard echoing, almost throughout the whole hospital. And certainly, not a soul saw the picture of Yuffie covered in ice from head to toe, lying sprawled in bed, with whip cream sprayed over her features in his hand.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&Forest in Wutai

Reno distinctly remembered thinking that, in the forest, the attack by the Leviathan summon was meant to scare Yuffie and himself off. That is exactly the reason that he found himself, in the forest, trying to retract his footsteps on that day. Result: he got himself utterly lost. He has been wondering in the forest for the past half hour and that one spot looked oh-so familiar. He sighed and sat down on a rather large rock next to the large tree that Yuffie and himself were circling around about two days ago. He shook his head and leaned against the large trunk. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to go looking for some secret cave in an area that he knew nothing about…ALRIGHT it was the WORST idea he's probably ever had (if you don't count jumping out a plane while still putting on a parachute and almost crashing).

He sat there for a few minutes before deciding that the search was futile, and his time would be better spent looking for a way out of this death trap. With that in mind he stood and brushed himself off; but before he could go on, something caught his eye. There on the ground at the base of the tree was a sparkling red orb. He approached it and picked it up gingerly. It was, as he guessed, a summon material. What was it doing here though? Perhaps, it's the Leviathan summon?

"I thought you'd never come." Reno heard a sinister voice from behind his kneeling form…Demetri.

"And I suppose you were waiting for me?" Reno answered casually while standing up and turning around to look at the antagonist.

"Why certainly. I would think you'd figured as much." Demetri answered with a note of amusement to his voice.

"Sorry to disappoint." Reno didn't sound apologetic in the least. Who would be? Demetri smirked with an almost manic gleam in his eyes.

"Turks were never too bright." He said whilst folding his arms over his chest. Reno only smirked.

"At least we're not traitors." He shot back. Demetri's grin turned into a scowl almost immediately. He was no longer enjoying himself, while Reno slacked his stance and gave him an innocent grin.

"I wasn't a traitor."

"Or really? Perhaps, you would like to elaborate?" Reno said a bit bitterly.

"You think that the dead SOLDIER on the steps on ShinRa was my doing, don't you?"

"Actually, I know it was. You were taking orders from FIST as much as from SOLDIER." Reno shot back casually.

"You're right the body was my doing, but the orders weren't from the man you think." Demetri said with an expression akin to regret on his handsome face.

"You mean…."

"Let me tell you."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&Hospital

Yuffie has been moved to another room. One with a less coughdevilishcough number 665. She was sitting in bed and thinking of all the painful and gruesome ways in which she could kill the red-head, when who but the source of her irritation should walk into the room. She was about tackle him when she noticed how pale he was.

"You look like death itself." She said scrunching up her nose. He simply nodded and fell into the chair next to her bed. "Wanna talk?" she asked tilting her head to the side.

"You sure you wanna hear it?"


	13. The Three Within

**Beyond the Reflection**

_Disclaimer: I do not own FFVII. _

_Summary: When Reno takes on the investigation of a case in Wutai, he gets more than he bargained for. Mainly: one obnoxious, spoiled, sarcastic, and infuriating brat. (Among other things of course.) _

**The Three Within**

**By:ClassicLit**

_Thank you so much for the reviews; they were absolutely wonderful. I hope you like this chapter. Sorry for the late update!_

"Well, go ahead then Turkey. What the heck happened?" Yuffie asked impatiently as she completely forgot about her planned actions of screaming at Reno for the ice and devoted her full attention to the reason that got the Turk so distressed.

"I think I cleared up most of the story….at my expanse." He said slowly, wincing at the sound of his own voice. It was raspy and his throat in need of water, but he simply cleared it and went on at Yuffie's puzzled expression.

_&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&Flashback_

_Demetri stood still, looking at the Turk's narrowed eyes and doubtful expression._

"_And who pray tell were you taking orders from?" Reno drawled lazily, as he leaned back on the trunk of the tree. Demetri smirked, knowing that his next words would cause that casual expression of the hotheaded Turk to change. _

"_Inside the actual corporation." Reno didn't react in the way that Demetri expected however. In fact the red-head didn't bat an eyelash. _

"_Tell me something I don't know." Reno said while shrugging his shoulders. Still wearing the same indifferent expression as at the beginning of the conversation. _

"_Fine." The ex-SOLDIER answered back just as casually. "I was taking orders from Rufus." Reno perked up at that. What the hell was this guy talking about? Demetri grinned at the calculating look. "That's right Rufus. While his father was the president, Rufus controlled more than a third of the SOLDIER forces. So he used them to get his 'beloved' old man to start a full out war with FIST. Of course, everyone knew ShinRa would win, but that would drop the rating of President ShinRa even further. This would cause unrest everywhere else…The thought was, that when Rufus would come to power he would look like a savior. Needless to say, AVALANCHE intervened and you know the rest." Demetri took a pause, examining his shoes, as if they were, for the sake of the event, the most interesting things in the world. _

_Reno lifted a delicate eyebrow at the prolonged speech. Ah, so that is why President ShinRa sent the Turks on that spy mission a while back. That did make sense, but there still was something bothering him. _

"_Rufus never gave orders himself. You must have received them from someone third person." Demetri smirked. _

"_I guess Turks aren't as dumb as I came to believe. I did receive the order form the third person. And yes, it is exactly what you are thinking. This person…or rather three are still within the new organization of ShinRa." Reno narrowed his eyes and pushed off the tree trunk. _

"_Who?" he asked genuinely curious. _

"_My, that wouldn't help my cause now would it?" Demetri asked with a note of amusement lacing his voice. _

"_And what exactly is your cause?" Reno asked getting a bit agitated with the prat standing across from him. _

"_What was FIST's cause." The other answered smugly. _

"_This isn't the same ShinRa anymore. It changed. You don't need to kill the company for the "sake of the people"." Reno emphasized the last part with a clear sarcastic undertone to it. _

"_FIST changed as well. It isn't working for the "sake of the people" anymore." Demetri repeated the hand quote gesture. "It's working for itself." Reno sighed. This was complete bullshit. This guy should have been shot a long time ago. This shouldn't even have been a problem Oh and Reeve could go screw himself with the policy that workers, unlike Rufus and such, were actually genuine. They were just as screwed up as the employer. Reno remembered another detail that he would like to find more about before killing this nuisance. _

"_So what's the deal with the mirror form the Pagoda?" The Turk asked flippantly as he leaned his frame back on the trunk of the tree behind him. _

"_For me to know and for you to find out." That was what Demetri said before Reno lounged at the ex-SOLDIER, pitching his weight forward and landing a rather hard punch across the brunette's cheek. The other staggered back, but didn't loose his balance, immediately jumping back a few feet and freezing in a pseudo defensive stance. Reno was about to launch another attack, but was stopped by the ringing that came from the pocket of the opponent. Demetri swore under his breath while agitatedly removing the offensive PHS from his pocket and flipping it open. _'Text message.'_ Reno guessed with a bit of amusement. Out of everyone the red-head Turk was probably the only person to stop a fight to let his opponent answer the phone. The Turk rolled his eyes at himself. _

_Demetri closed the PHS putting it back in his pocket and picking himself up from the fighting stance. _

_"We will continue this." Reno smirked and shrugged his shoulders. His mag-rod already hanging lazily from his hand. _

_"Unless you'll get scared." Reno mocked "And then we'll see."_

_"Be sure to get ready Turk." Demetri said cockily and started running away from the sighing Turk. _

_&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&Flashback_

Reno made a face at the end of his story. This was supposed to be a simple homicide case. He was supposed to be in Wutai and back in Midgar within a week. Now he has to find the three who are trying to ruin ShinRa and deal with the rising FIST. _'Fan-fucking-tastic.'_ Reno though to himself as he slid down even further in the chair.

"So that means that the killing in the Pagoda was…?" Yuffie went off with a shake of her head. Reno shrugged his shoulders.

"No idea pest. I know just about as much as you do." He said lazily, rubbing his eyes and giving up on his side mission of trying to keep them open altogether.

"Well then, let's think about this." Yuffie said with a sigh. Reno opened his eyes and widened them artificially.

"You can think?" he asked, sounding genuinely surprised. Yuffie didn't waist time in picking up a pillow that was lying next to her and throwing it at the Turk. To her disappointment it wasn't so much of a punishment as she would have hoped. He simply grabbed the pillow and put it under his head with a content sigh and an idle 'thanks, brat'. She rolled her eyes.

"Turkey, figure it out." She demanded pompously and pointed an aggravated finger at the aforementioned Turk. The other opened one of his eyes and made an idle grab for that exact finger, but Yuffie pulled it back in time and Reno's hand landed on his knee rather hard. The red-head hissed and glared at the smirking Yuffie. _'Brat.' _He thought lazily to himself.

"I'm heading back to Midgar." Reno said rather suddenly as the thought occurred to him. If anything Reeve would know more about this, plus whatever the 'three' in ShinRa are planning should connect directly to what happened in the Pagoda." He looked outside the window to see that it was getting dark outside. The sun's weak rays were fading slowly at the horizon and the sky was bleeding a beautiful shade of crimson.

"Better get some rest." Yuffie broke the silence jovially. "Long trip for us tomorrow." Reno's train of though froze. _'Did she just say us?' _

"Here you go again with the 'us' business." He said with a shake of his head. "YOU, princess, are NOT going anywhere." He said this in a final tone that definitely didn't allow any room for discussion.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&Next Morning

Reno was driving through the town with the red lights again. I was once again a very tedious and horrendous experience. But you know what made it worse? Yuffie was with him this time. Yes, yes he really didn't want to take her. Blackmail is a horrible thing. Reeve unfortunately listens to her! Life is unfair that way.

Yuffie was sick as usual. Her motion sickness not giving her a break even when they had to stop every 20 feet. Even though, in a way the fact that the car screeched to a halt every so often, made her sick to begin with. Reno didn't make it easier either. In his fowl mood, he more than likely stopped so sharply on purpose. She was absolutely sure of it.

As they stopped at another red light she turned to him with a glare. He almost burst out laughing at the failed attempt to look intimidating. It was in a way absolutely adorable. Like a little Doberman trying to be scary before he grows up. The fact that she looked a bit…alright scratch that…VERY sick wasn't helping the picture.

"If you make another stop such as this one, I am going to stick my shuriken up your ass." She grounded out quietly. Reno smirked at her.

"Blunt today, are we not?" He asked with an exaggerated innocence to his tone.

"I'm always blunt." She said with a sigh as she leaned her head against the seat. She really was feeling horrible.

"It really is a mystery why I haven't shot you yet." Reno sighed himself as he looked miserably at the red light that didn't seem to have heard his silent threat to turn green. Yuffie didn't dignify that statement with a comment.

This was going to be the least enjoyable stay at Midgar that she could think of, but she really wanted to get to the bottom of this.

_HOPE you enjoyed. Please R&R.._


End file.
